Carl Froch has been advising Anthony Joshua to choose his comeback opponent carefully.
Former Olympic gold medalist Joshua has not fought since September 2024 when he was stopped inside five rounds by Daniel Dubois as he attempted to become a three-time world champion. The IBF strap holder had other ideas and put on one of his most destructive performances of his campaign to leave ‘AJ’ flat on the canvas.
Before that, Joshua had rebuilt well after hard back-to-back points losses to eventual undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022. In a solid run, he had beaten Robert Helenius, Jermain Franklin, Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou, three of them by knockout, to get back to looking his best.
Whether or not the Dubois loss was a blip, time will tell, but 35-year-old Joshua now needs to get back to winning ways in quick time if he is to fight at the top level again.
As for who his next opponent should be, speaking on Froch on Fighting, ‘The Cobra’ didn’t hold back when discussing a rematch with Dubois – one of ‘AJ’s targets before retirement.
“Another fight with Daniel Dubois, forget it, Daniel Dubois, f***ing flattens him again. He can’t beat Daniel Dubois, he will be frightened to death of getting hit on the chin, and when he does, he will be rendered unconscious again.”
Joshua has been linked with names like Deontay Wilder and Dillian Whyte for his return, but first, he must recover from minor elbow surgery and expects to be back towards the end of the year.
There is still also hope that one day he will have a long-awaited showdown with Tyson Fury, though for now, Fury remains retired.
As for Dubois, he has a rematch of his own with Usyk next month to become the first British undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis.
