Following the breakdown in negotiations with Tyson Fury for a prospective superfight, Anthony Joshua has been offered matches against Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce.
Even as recently as the end of August, contracts were being passed back and forth between the camps of Fury and Joshua for a fight scheduled for December 3 at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, but the negotiations ultimately fell through at the eleventh hour.
However, Fury’s promoter Frank Warren is also in charge of two of the best heavyweight contenders in the world and would be delighted to have them take against the former champion.
Although it seems unlikely that Joshua will bounce back from two defeats by taking on a top-tier heavyweight, he still intends to return to the ring on December 17. Dubois holds the WBA’s regular title, while Joyce, the WBO’s “interim” champion, defeated Joseph Parker last month, who Anthony Joshua was unable to stop in their 2018 fight.
Warren said in an interview with iFL TV, “If he wants to fight, there’s two great fights there with Joe Joyce and Daniel Dubois. “Both hold very significant positions in their respective organisations. They’re both mandatories. One is the interim champion, that’s Joe Joyce. Daniel is the WBA regular champion. There’s another way back if he wants to talk about it.”
The likelihood of the domestic superfight still taking place appears to have completely vanished with Fury set to face Derek Chisora, who is under Joshua’s 258 Management and has had his most recent fights promoted by Matchroom Boxing.
Warren, though, is of the opinion that Joshua will only face Fury if he succeeds in obtaining a required position with a regulating organization.
“It’s off the table,” Warren spoke of the Cardiff showdown, which had a history of seeming improbable from the outset and was viewed with skepticism by numerous sources.
“If you look at it, Joshua has to get himself in the mandatory position. To get into the mandatory position, he gets 20 per cent of the purse bid, whereas he would have gotten 40 per cent,” Warren said.
