{"id":492040,"date":"2026-02-20T08:51:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/492040\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T08:51:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:51:13","slug":"anthony-joshuas-return-to-boxing-getting-closer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/492040\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Joshua\u2019s Return to Boxing \u2018Getting Closer\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn has revealed the month for which he expects the former two-time heavyweight world boxing<\/a> champion Anthony Joshua to return to the ring for a fight.<\/p>\n

Speculation persisted that AJ would fight the kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven in February or March following his eventual knockout of Jake Paul in a victory that fractured the internet sensation\u2019s jaw in two places.<\/p>\n

Following Verhoeven, Joshua would have looked to finally secure the long-awaited Battle of Britain bash against compatriot Tyson Fury, after the Gypsy King\u2019s own comeback against Arslanbek Makhmudov mid-April.<\/p>\n

However, a tragic car accident in which two of Joshua\u2019s friends were killed in Nigeria put the fighter in mourning, posted a video on his social media in which he looked visibly shaken, having survived the crash, while losing his \u201cleft and his right\u201d \u2014 people who were a key part of his life and career.<\/p>\n

This led Hearn to suggest nothing was guaranteed<\/a> with Joshua\u2019s comeback.<\/p>\n

Now, speaking to Betfred, Hearn has revealed a return to training could be forthcoming, and has earmarked a month in which he expects Joshua to be fit for a fight \u2014 albeit one that would be more of a tune-up, like the prospective Verhoeven clash, than a significant showdown against the likes of Fury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus for Anthony Joshua is to get back into training camp,\u201d Hearn told Betfred this week. \u201cIt\u2019s getting closer and I think there\u2019s nothing more than he wants than to return to training camp, because it\u2019s where he loves to be.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hearn then indicated that there isn\u2019t just one opponent that they have in mind for that comeback, but that the fighter could compete in any number of territories for this fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, I think July time to return. And we\u2019re looking at multiple options around the world for that potential return.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hearn finished: \u201cI haven\u2019t spoken too deeply to Anthony yet, until he gets back into camp. And hopefully that\u2019ll be in the next couple weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joshua, 36, is one of the most decorated fighters British boxing has produced in the modern era with a gold medal from the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and British, Commonwealth, and world title honors in a consistent pro career that has seen him score meaningful wins over Dillian Whyte, Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker, Alexander Povetkin, and Francis Ngannou.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn has revealed the month for which he expects the former two-time heavyweight world boxing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-492040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}