Anthony Joshua “couldn’t take another loss” – Barry Hearn

Via Barry Holbrook: Promoter Barry Hearn says former two-division heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) is at the top. “crossroads” in my 9 years professional career and cannot accept another failure.

Hearn says Joshua could fight one of these three in his next bout:

• Dillian Whyte
• Deontay Wilder
• Otto Wallin

Joshua should take the weakest of those three, Whyte, for the next bout because Wilder and Wallin might be too much of a risk for him right now.

While Joshua could suffer some other setbacks and remain a viable star in the UK, it will ultimately affect his earning potential and mentally it could causing the 33-year-old star to lose the last bit of confidence.

The fact that the 2012 Olympic gold medalist has been looking for a new coach after just one fight with new coach Robert Garcia shows that he is desperate and lacks confidence that he can turn the situation around. with his current coach.

Barry Hearn is eager for Joshua to face Tyson Fury in 2023 and he feels it could happen by the end of the year. Hearn’s desire to get the Joshua-Fury fight going as soon as possible suggests to some boxing fans that he wants to make money with AJ before his career fizzled.

Things wouldn’t have been so bleak for 6’6″ tall Joshua had he not been for an immediate rematch against Oleksandr Usyk last August after losing to him last September.

Although many people warned Joshua about going into a rematch with Usyk without a confidence builder, he accepted and the results were disastrous.

Joshua can’t take another defeat

“I think Dillian is on the list. There are several other names. Deontay Wilder could be there, Otto Wallin. It was his call. He is at a crossroads in his career. He can’t afford to lose again,” Barry Hearn said to Sports sky about Anthony Joshua.

Things wouldn’t be as they are now if Joshua didn’t fight Andy Ruiz and Usyk. Those are the guys AJ should have changed because they were obviously bad style opponents for him, given their speed and boxing skills.

“The battle we all want to see in the end is AJ against [Tyson] Rage,” Hear said. “You will get stories; Tyson will say the fight will never happen, Joshua will say he would rather fight Dillian Whyte. Forget all of that.

“This war must take placeand I think it will happen by the end of 2023, for all marbles.”

It would be better if Joshua postponed his fight with Fury until 2024 as AJ needs to focus on rebuilding confidence next year. If he faces Fury after a few tweaks in 2024, he won’t be ready for him.