Anthony Joshua Could Return In December If Deontay Wilder Fight Gets Delayed, Says Eddie Hearn

Anthony Joshua could fight again this year after all.

Joshua extended his wins streak to two in August as he scored a KO win over Robert Helenius in the seventh round. The expectation was that Joshua would then fight Deontay Wilder in January in Saudi Arabia in a massive fight.

However, as of right now, there has been no word on whether the fight will come to fruition and Eddie Hearn revealed if it doesn’t;t, the plan is to fight in December.

“Talks are ongoing. We are still in the same position of a January fight. If we don’t conclude that fight and they about moving it to February or March, we will probably fight in December. Wilder is talking about fighting in October, but it’s already September now,” Hearn told IFL TV. “He will wait to fight Wilder in January. He’s training now. He wants to fight in December. If they turned around and said ‘let’s do the Wilder fight in December’ he’d do it. But everybody is talking like it’s happening, but until it’s happening it ain’t on. Until it’s on, we’ll keep our options open for December. Ideally, we’d like to go straight into the Wilder fight.”

If Anthony Joshua does end up returning in December, who he would fight is uncertain. But, Hearn says it would be someone on the level of Dillian Whyte and Robert Helenius as it would be another tune-up fight for Joshau to rebuild his career.

“I think you’re going to end up seeing the best of him in the bigger fights. The reality is if he did have another fight it would be on the level of Dillian, Helenius… those kinds of levels. Would it get the best out of him? I don’t think it wouldn’t be beneficial [to have a third fight in 2023], but I don’t think it would change the result of the Wilder fight,” Hearn said.

Do you think Anthony Joshua will return in December?