ANTHONY JOSHUA has been urged to wait for a fight with Tyson Fury as his rematch with Daniel Dubois faces collapse.
Joshua was down FOUR times before falling victim to a brutal fifth-round knockout to Dubois in September.
And initially the two looked set for a return bout in Saudi Arabia in February – until doubt was cast from AJ’s camp.
Joshua looks to be carrying injuries and could instead prefer waiting out till May to fight again.
By then, Fury would have rematched Usyk potentially clearing the path for the British pair to finally fight.
Barry Hearn, dad of Joshua’s promoter Eddie, told The Mirror: “I think Dubois is dangerous and he’s going to be super confident after the last job.
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“I still believe AJ would probably beat him in a rematch if he boxed differently, but that’s just my opinion.
“More likely, a sensible person doesn’t rush anything. You take your time. But he’s his own man and he’s gonna make his own call.
“And I guess my gut feeling is the warrior still burns within Anthony Joshua and he will want to try once more.
“My crystal ball starts to clear every now and again. A Daniel Dubois rematch would be a big fight.
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“But if Oleksandr Usyk beats Tyson Fury – and I think he’s the favourite to beat Tyson Fury, possibly this time by stoppage – then the most sensible thing would be one or two fights with Tyson Fury.”
Fury, 36, lost his WBC belt and undefeated record in May to Usyk, 37, who became the first four-belt undisputed heavyweight champion.
But the Ukrainian vacated the IBF belt to proceed with their Riyadh rematch as Dubois, 27, was elevated from interim champ.
And Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren hinted that an immediate rematch with Joshua, 35, is now unlikely to follow.
He told BoxNation: “I don’t see that happening next.
“We are looking at a couple of things at the moment and we will make a decision.
“I was hoping we would get it done fairly quickly but we won’t. I was hoping to get it done last week and this week.
“So sometime next week we are going to be in a position where we can close on something and we are talking to a few other guys…
“I’m hearing that he [Joshua] is injured. Whatever it is, if things are going to happen they happen and it has taken a while so you’ve got to feel it won’t happen.
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“Unless I get a phone call saying it is on. But we have got to make some decisions and with the greatest respect to everyone we are in the Daniel Dubois business.
“He is the one that matters for me… I want him out on that date and he wants to be out [February 22].”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
