Boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn, has moved to clear the air on talk of Anthony Joshua’s next fight being against any one of Deontay Wilder of the United States or Congolese fighter, Martin Bakole.
Joshua last outing saw him lose to Daniel Dubois via knockout in an all-British fight at Wembley Stadium for the IBF heavyweight title belt in September 2024.
Speculation has gone round recently about who Joshua will face next, more so after Tyson Fury abruptly announced his retirement in January, a day after Joshua commented about possibly fighting Fury in 2025.
“If you look at Twitter [X], he’s signed and agreed to fight Martin Bakole. Today it’s all signed for Wilder against Joshua on June 7th,” Hearn said during an interview on BBC 5 Live Boxing. “There hasn’t been one discussion yet.”
Hearn continued, “I think Martin Bakole is a very good fighter, but don’t get carried away that this is the new George Foreman. The problem with Bakole is, he is a handful, but he doesn’t really bring the dollars for the fight.”
With a rematch against Dubois turned down for now by Joshua, and Fury retired, it remains to be seen who Joshua will fight next although Hearn suggests it could be the winner of the upcoming fight between Dubois and Joseph Parker.
“The first four, five rounds of that fight will be so important,” Hearn said of Dubois versus Parker. “If Parker can get through those rounds, you’ve got to put question marks back in Dubois’ head because right now I think he thinks he’s invincible.”