Eddie Hearn mentions ex-Tyson Fury foe among four potential December opponents for Anthony Joshua

Matchroom chief Eddie Hearn has named four potential opponents for Anthony Joshua if he fights again in December.

Following his second loss to Oleksandr Usyk in August 2022, Joshua has attempted to rebuild his career this year as he has fought Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius at the O2 Arena.

Joshua beat Franklin over the distance before savagely knocking Helenius out inside seven rounds.

The Brit’s team have been in talks with Deontay Wilder throughout this year with it hoped that they would face off in Saudi Arabia.

Discussions have recently broken down as a site deal is off the table with the Middle East nation turning its attention to Tyson Fury vs Usyk.

Joshua may instead face Wilder during the first quarter of next year in the UK or Las Vegas.

The former two-time heavyweight champion could return to the ring for a fight in December with Hearn naming Manuel Charr, Agit Kabayel, Filip Hrgovic or Otto Wallin. The latter gave Fury one of the toughest fight of his career in 2019.

Hearn told Seconds Out: “Charr is looking for an opponent. He’s got the WBA regular title, which we certainly wouldn’t be saying Joshua is a three-time heavyweight champion [if he won that belt]. Definitely not.

“But at the same time, if he’s going to fight someone in December, I’m not saying it will be Charr, but it could be Kabayel. It could be Hrgovic or Wallin out of this situation, let’s see what happens.”

 

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— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) October 15, 2023

 

Hearn also indicated that December 23rd will be the date of Joshua’s return if he has one more fight this year.

“It’s not going to be Deontay Wilder, it’s not going to be Andy Ruiz, and it probably won’t be Zhang,” Hearn said. “So you have to look at that top-15.

“Honestly, we haven’t really—we’re more [sure] on the date than the opponent. He wants to fight in December. In his head he says he wanted to fight three times in a year.

“But I said, 'you fought in April.’ He said, 'no, I want to fight three times in 2023.' So he would love to get in in December. And we’ll have to keep one eye on the 23rd (of December) because we just don’t know what’s going to happen.”

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