Commentator Ade Oladipo wants Anthony Joshua to retire if he doesn’t fight Daniel Dubois in a rematch. Ade points out that the 35-year-old Joshua (28-4, 25 KO) has “half a billion in the bank,” and wants to see him retire with his “faculties intact”.
Joshua was brutally knocked out in the fifth round by IBF heavyweight champion Dubois on September 21 at London’s Wembley Stadium. Except for a brief moment of success for Joshua in the fifth, he was beaten by the young lion Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs)
It is believed that Joshua will stop so that he can fight Tyson Fury two to three times and earn even more generational money. After those two to three fights, Joshua could face Oleksandr Usyk in a trilogy match to see if he can avenge one of his past two defeats against him.
Joshua claims he likes fighting, and he obviously enjoys the money he gets for these fights. It is unclear if Joshua’s goal is to become the first billionaire in the history of boxing. Given AJ’s popularity and the way British fans don’t give up on their heroes when his career goes down, he has a good chance of becoming a billionaire.
He might need his promoter, Eddie Hearn, to match him carefully, but you could argue that the Tyson Fury fight would be him doing that. Fury lacks power, and his punch resistance has gone 100% to 36 after his three fights against Deontay Wilder. Joshua would have an excellent chance of destroying Fury in two or three rounds if he jumped on him from the start like he did against Francis Ngannou.
He had won his previous four contests before losing to Dubois, but those were against fighters that his promoter, Eddie Hearn, had met to rebuild after his two defeats against Usyk.
“No one. No, I want him to retire. I’ve been honest. I’m not going to change my tune on that,” Ade Oladipo told Pro Boxing fans when asked who Anthony Joshua should fight next. “Not because I don’t think AJ can compete with the other heavyweights. You can put AJ there, but I just feel what he wants.”
If Joshua were to fight Dubois again next and be defeated, he might consider retirement. However, given that the rematch didn’t happen after that, there is no chance of Joshua hanging up his gloves.
“If it’s not going to be the Dubois rematch,” Ade said he wants Joshua to retire if he doesn’t fight Dubois again. “If Fury beats Usyk, will AJ fight Fury? I don’t know. The Fury fight is so big financially. I can understand why they want to. But for me, as an AJ friend, I’d like to see him go off into the sunset with all the faculty (intact). What does he have, half a billion in the bank? Not a bad run.”
I think Joshua wants the Fury fight, and he also wants to give the fans and His Excellency Turki Alalshikh that match. A lot of people want to see Joshua stick around to fight Fury, and he doesn’t want to let go.
“Why does everyone want me to keep going and keep going and keep going in what is such a dangerous sport? If it’s not Dubois, for me, I think it should be retirement, but that’s just me,” Ade said.
Boxing fans want Joshua to continue because he brings drama to his fights. He has a Wladimir Klitschko element to his fights, where you don’t know if he’s going to knock out his opponent or himself. He had looked good until he fought Dubois, and this was a case of the wrong opponent and game plan taking away his best assets.
