Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua will never forgive himself if he doesn’t take the rematch with Daniel Dubois to try and avenge his defeat against him. Hearn thinks Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) will say next week, “We get it,” when they decide whether to take the rematch with IBF heavyweight champion Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) or not.
If Joshua doesn’t get the rematch, he will face Tyson Fury next, and could be coming off another loss to Oleksandr Usyk by then. That would put Joshua and Fury in a worthless fight, both coming off back-to-back defeats, and seen by the public as a hasbeens.
UK fans will still be eager to see AJ and Fury get it on, but people elsewhere won’t see any value in the matchup other than it being a glorious celebrity match.
Interestingly, Hearn is cool with the idea of Joshua taking a couple of gimme fights against Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte, and Joe Joyce to get used to winning again. He says that Joshua has already done a rebuilding job, and he doesn’t need another one.
He might not, but the fans would like to see Joshua get a knockout or two so they can believe in him again. Now, many of them feel that he is washed up and heading for another defeat against Dubois.
“What you have is a straight shot at the heavyweight championship against a guy we think should have beaten and we all believe we can beat,” Eddie Hearn told BoxNation about Anthony Joshua wanting a rematch with Daniel Dubois.
“I don’t think AJ will be able to forgive himself if he doesn’t get the rematch. To me, he would say, ‘Let’s run.’ So, we’ll see this week.”
“He doesn’t want KO wins. He wants the world heavyweight championship,” Hearn said, reacting to a suggestion that Joshua is taking a warm-up fight to get a KO. “We’re not going at this stage to beat Deontay Wilder, Joe Joyce or Dillian Whyte. It won’t really make a difference to our fight with Dubois.
“I understand; maybe mentally, go in with a little more momentum. We don’t have time for the moment. We did the reconstruction. The reconstruction was done after Usyk. We had four fights, and then we went with Dubois. If Ben Davison and AJ believe it’s the way, so maybe we’ll do that.
“AJ didn’t box well against Dubois. We feel as a team, we can beat Dubois. If we can’t, we can’t, but imagine if we win. Imagine if AJ avenges his defeat against Dubois and become a three-time heavyweight champion. It can happen,” Hearn said.
