Doubts surround Joshua’s dream of an immediate rematch with Dubois
Former world champion Anthony Joshua's dream of a rematch with champion Daniel Dubois has been hit with snags.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Ben Shalom reveals the winner of Martin Bakole vs Agit Kabayel will determine the next mandatory challenger to Daniel Dubois
Joshua still wants an immediate rematch with Daniel Dubois.
Dubois smashed Joshua into defeat with a stunning fifth-round knockout in their IBF world heavyweight title fight at Wembley Stadium last month.
It was an astonishing upset that demolished the hopes of Joshua fighting the winner of the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury rematch for the undisputed heavyweight world championship in 2025.
But rather than wait to finally take on his great rival Fury, former champion Joshua could choose to face Dubois once again in his next fight, as soon as February.
Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn told Sky Sports: "My initial thought after the fight was let's just chill out, maybe wait for Fury-Usyk.
"AJ's reaction was quite a bit different. Obviously, out of pride you always want to take the rematch. But it's a little bit more calculated than that.
"It's more like, well, what happens if Usyk-Fury doesn't happen? What if someone gets injured, and even if it does happen they're not going to fight again until July, or August? Then I'm out of the ring for nearly a year and I want to be active."
Joshua could always fight someone outside of that top three of Usyk, Fury and Dubois, with heavyweights like Deontay Wilder or Dillian Whyte under consideration.
But Hearn explained Joshua's current thinking, saying: "I want to win the world heavyweight title, and I've got a shot there to win the world heavyweight title in my hand.
"It's a dangerous fight but I can't box any worse than I did."
The promoter added that he "would expect the fighter to say I want the instant rematch" but Hearn insisted: "When you start thinking about it, I don't think there's a bad decision to make.
"I know that he is leaning towards the rematch because he wants to win the world heavyweight title. Versus fighting Wilder, waiting for Fury and then you've got all next year bubbling around not fighting for the world heavyweight title."
