By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn insists Anthony Joshua will be fighting four times in 2023 after he first gets a tune-up level match in November or December against a top 15 opponent.
Let’s be real. The ONLY way Joshua fights four times in 2023 is if he goes on a bum of the month type of streak in which he’s facing exclusively ham-&-eggers.
I can think of a ton of heavyweights that would be ideal for Joshua to crush next year to get his four fights out of the way, but I don’t see it as being realistic.
Once Joshua rolls over a couple of hapless fighters, it’ll plant ideas into his head that he’s capable of beating the big dogs in the division. He’ll then take on someone like Deontay Wilder, Joe Joyce, or Filip Hrgovic and get put in his place once again.
Unfortunately, the chances of the boxing public seeing Joshua fight four times next year are virtually slim & none.
Joshua WON’T fight four times next year because the only that could happen is if he were to focus on bottom-level cellar dweller opposition that Hearn could quickly negotiate a fight against.
If Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) is going to fight anyone notable like Deontay Wilder or even past his best Dillian Whyte, the negotiations could drag on for many months, making it impossible for AJ to fight four times in 2023.
Given how mentally damaged Joshua looked post-fight after his loss to Oleksandr Usyk last Saturday, it would be in Hearn’s best interest to focus exclusively on matching AJ against rock-bottom fringe contenders and stay far, far away from dangerous fighters like Wilder or the heavy-handed Zhilei Zhang.
“The next step for AJ, in my opinion, is to box in December or January or whenever that’s going to be and come back with a top 15 guy and put in a dominating performance,” said Eddie Hearn to the DAZN Boxing Show.
“Get back on the winning saddle and then move with activity. I want him to have four fights between now and 2023. I see the Dillian Whyte fight as a must-make fight for Anthony Joshua for the British public,” said Hearn.
It would be an excellent move for Joshua’s career if he fought four times next year because it would give him a chance to mentally recover from what has happened to him.
