Anthony Joshua has shared twelve rounds with Joseph Parker and five with Daniel Dubois, and will be ringside when the two face off in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia next month.
Joshua beat Parker to unify the heavyweight titles back in 2018. Though the New Zealander lost a unanimous decision, he became the first man to force ‘AJ’ to go the full distance, showing a grit that would continue to serve him as he made his comeback.
Since then, Parker has lost to Dillian Whyte and Joe Joyce, but recent wins over big punchers Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang set him up for a shot at the IBF belt, currently held by Dubois.
‘Dynamite’ Dubois was elevated to full champion after beating Filip Hrgovic and made the first defence of his title in emphatic fashion, battering Joshua at Wembley Stadium and stopping him in the fifth.
With both men in fine form, the title clash is an excellent start to 2025 for the sport’s biggest division. Joshua is well-placed to pick a winner, and has announced a prediction challenge with Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh.
“22nd of February. It’s gonna be big. Make sure you tune in. I’m actually gonna come out to Saudi and watch the fight between Joseph Parker and Daniel Dubois. Good luck to both men. Me and His Excellency, we have an agreement. He picks his side, I pick my side and we see who wins.”
‘AJ’ then backed Parker to win the fight and become a two-time world champion. He may well then target a rematch, having made it clear that he is looking to hold a belt once more.
He had been heavily linked with a two-fight deal against Joshua this year, however, those plans have now been thrown out the window following Fury’s recent revelation.
“I can understand why people would want to see it,” Jordan said.
Usyk has cleared out all of the main competition in the heavyweight division in the last six years since moving up from cruiserweight. He left the weight class below as undisputed champion and recently repeated that feat at heavyweight. He twice beat Anthony Joshua to relive him of his three world titles and then defend them in a second fight, and wasn’t significantly hurt in either on his way to a brace of points victories.
This is the natural next fight for these long time British rivals and would be a legacy defining contest that would be of great interest to fans.
“But I can really see Joshua winning that fight, to be honest. If he goes in and does what he has to do and does not think so much. I think Joshua thinks a lot. He doubts himself a lot as well. I don’t think he has a lot of self-motivation or self-confidence.
“I think the brands are so strong,” DuBoef told Sky Sports. “In the UK, the country would stop for an hour to see what happens and I think that’s a wonderful thing. They’re like peanut butter and jelly, Joshua and Fury, they go together.”
“Fury is a massive favourite but I think in general he was always a slight favourite (against Joshua),” Jones told the 5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce podcast.
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“Sooner or later, in the coming weeks, we will want to put a plan together for Anthony Joshua. That is when the conversations will come with Frank Warren, Spencer Brown [Fury’s manager] and His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] and say, ‘we want to make AJ-Fury what do you think? We’ll go from there.”
As a gesture of goodwill, Anthony Joshua presented President Tinubu with an autographed boxing glove inscribed, “To the Great Asiwaju Jagaban Borgu of Africa, Bola A. Tinubu.” Photos from the visit were shared on the Presidency’s official X handle, accompanied by a caption that read: “President Bola Tinubu receiving an autographed glove from former World Heavyweight Champion, Anthony Joshua, when he visited the President at his residence in Lagos.”
Governor Abiodun further disclosed that Joshua would play a pivotal role in the Gateway Games National Sports Festival by lighting the festival torch in May 2025.
However, AJ came out a couple of days later and insisted he would continue fighting.
