Eddie Hearn has admitted to talkSPORT that Anthony Joshua is ‘hurting’ after his devastating defeat at the hands of Daniel Dubois.
Joshua was knocked out by his fellow countryman in front of a capacity crowd at Wembley Stadium in September.
It marked the fourth defeat of his professional career and his most damaging to date, with Dubois dropping Joshua four times en route to the eventual fifth-round stoppage.
Several members of the boxing fraternity called for the two-time unified heavyweight champion to hang up his gloves immediately after the contest.
However, AJ came out a couple of days later and insisted he would continue fighting.
And according to Hearn, his future was never up for discussion.
Asked if Joshua ever considered retiring during an appearance on talkSPORT’s White and Jordan show on Thursday afternoon, Hearn replied: “No, never, never.
“One because physically he feels good and he’s looking good.
“But also because when you suffer a loss like that the decision is not, ‘Shall we retire?’ It’s now about, ‘How do we look when we come back?’”
That isn’t to say that Joshua didn’t battle his own demons though.
“Yeah, he is hurting. He took a pasting at times in that fight and I think he has got his back up and he wants to come back stronger.
“I don’t think it is ever easy. The reason this sport is so compelling is because you are on your own in there.
“When you are scrambling on the floor to get up and hang on for dear life, time and time again it is very humbling and probably very humiliating.
“He had to go through that experience. He never stopped trying, he never stopped trying to get up till the point where he couldn’t get up.
“I think he showed a lot of heart but he got well beaten and he needs to go back and work out why.”
