Follow Us on Google
ANTHONY JOSHUA could make his boxing return in Nigeria – before focusing on settling his drawn out score with Tyson Fury.
AJ is plotting a comeback having not fought since his September 2024 knockout loss to Daniel Dubois.
He had elbow surgery in the summer but has returned to training – also meeting with Eddie Hearn in Dubai for talks over a return to the ring.
Promoter Hearn told ESPN: “I thought initially no to AJ fighting this year, but now possibly.
“I went to Dubai to see him, and he is really back and locked in, zoned in.
“Getting over the defeat took him a good few months, then he had the injury, then he went back to camp, then he rested, but then it went again and he needed an operation, so that was another three months or so.
“It has been a really frustrating period.
“But when I saw him in Dubai I just really wanted to look him in the eye and find out if he wanted a quick money grab before you call it quits, or do you really want it, and the answer is the latter, he really wants to become three-time world heavyweight champion. That’s his motivation.”
Hearn has had interest from Ghana and Nigeria – where AJ’s parents were born – to host his next fight.
He said: “We have had an approach from Ghana, and now Nigeria.
I think AJ fighting in Africa would be incredible.
Other News
“If he fights again in February or March, he will have been out of the ring for 18 months.
“It’s a huge amount of time to come back versus a top ten heavyweight but also its Anthony Joshua and you have got these big site deals so you can’t just fight some random geezer who is ranked 100th in the world over eight rounds.
“If he wasn’t Anthony Joshua, you might actually do that but it’s very difficult to do that in his position.”
Martin Bakole, Tony Yoka and former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder are all names in contention to face AJ.
Fury, 37, retired in January just one month after losing to Oleksandr Usyk, 38, for the second time in 2024.
But the unpredictable Gypsy King has continued to tease a return in 2026 – leaving AJ waiting in the wings.
Hearn, who had talks with Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh, said: “I’ve never heard him speak about anyone like he speaks about Tyson Fury, not just wanting to fight him, but saying he can’t wait to knock him spark out.
“I’ve never heard him talk like that before. He really wants to fight him, and really wants to beat him.
“But he is also looking at the division and how it is going to fragment a little bit with the belts, and also he’s looking at getting active.
“He was saying to me, ‘You know how some people go away on a smaller show just to get some rounds in, people go to Mexico to have a fight off the radar.’
