By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua told his followers today that he won’t return to the ring until December. The former unified heavyweight champion Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs) didn’t explain why he changed his three-fight plan for this year, but some believe that he’s going look for a cash-out fight against Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia.
If the Saudis have the stadium ready by December, Joshua and Tyson Fury can finally meet in a big-money fight. Unfortunately, it won’t have all the belts on the line because Fury chose not to fight IBF, WBA & WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk.
A couple of Joshua-Fury fights will make both fighters tremendous money to increase their generational wealth.
AJ’s fans wanted to see him fight three times in 2023, but it’s pointless if two of the fights would be against bottom feeders.
At this point in Joshua’s career, he doesn’t need tune-ups against cellar-dwellers. Those fights won’t improve Joshua or make him the fighter he once was ten years ago when he first signed with Eddie Hearn.
Joshua’s last fight against Jermaine Franklin on April 1st was so lackluster that it may have caused AJ to give up on trying to sharpen up with an additional tune-up for July before he goes after a big name in December.
The way Joshua performed against Franklin, that no amount of work with his new coach Derrick James will improve his game. In that fight, we saw a combination of age, ring wear & lost confidence.
Unfortunately, none of those things can be reversed without a time machine. That’s likely why Joshua has given up on the idea of fighting in July and will focus on the money fight in December, be it against Fury or Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia.
“My next fight is scheduled for December. Not ideal, but everything is part of a bigger picture,” said Anthony Joshua on social media today, letting his followers know he will be inactive for the next eight months.
Joshua already said that his focus on containing his career is for money, and obviously, he won’t make a massive amount of dough fighting the journeyman Dillian Whyte in July.
That’s a domestic-level fight. Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn can’t pawn a fight against Whyte to fans outside of the UK because they know Dillian is washed up and a step down in class from Franklin.