Anthony Joshua is at a crossroads moment in his career.
‘AJ’, who was for so long the face of British boxing and still may be, suffered his fourth career defeat at the weekend – arguably the toughest of them all. It came via the explosive fists of Daniel Dubois in the fifth round of their IBF world title clash having been put down three times prior to the conclusive finish.
Before that, he lost back-to-back 12-rounders with Usyk but wasn’t knocked down in either. In 2019, the Brit took an upset loss to Andy Ruiz Jr though easily avenged it on points later that same year.
Joshua himself has promised he will not retire and there is a possibility he goes straight into a rematch with Dubois, though his promoter Eddie Hearn has also hinted he could wait until after Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch with Tyson Fury in December to target the long-awaited Fury clash.
Joshua’s former trainer Robert Garcia, who was in his corner for the second fight with Usyk, spoke to ESNEWS and is adamant he should fight on, naming two potential fights – Fury and Deontay Wilder.
“No [he shouldn’t retire]! The Fury fight is still a huge fight for him. Even if Fury loses to Usyk again they fight each other in England and that’s huge, they could sell 200,000 tickets if they fight each other. Another big fight for Anthony is Wilder also. That’s two huge fights no matter what happened in their last fights, Fury and Wilder, both fights are huge for Joshua in England. He can still win those fights because he’s got great power.”
Joshua has come back well from defeat before, but at 34 he will know that many more will likely spell the end to a great campaign. Whilst the Fury match-up hinges on an upcoming fight, talks with Wilder could begin immediately given he is also coming off a bruising loss.
