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Anthony Joshua is back on a winning streak after a devastating seventh-round knockout win over Robert Helenius last night at the O2 Arena in London. He is now expected to fight former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in a contest slated to take place January in Saudi Arabia. The signs look promising for a fight between the former champs to get finalized. However, the same was said many times before in the past as well. And so, should a fight between the pair somehow not materialize, here are three alternate opponents to Deontay Wilder that Anthony Joshua could face.
Tyson Fury
Joshua has repeatedly spoken of remaining active and getting the rounds in. His promoter Eddie Hearn also revealed a three-fight plan last night that involved Helenius, Wilder and then Tyson Fury. The first part in Helenius is done. But if the second part in the Wilder fight doesn't happen, why not go after Fury right away? It's not like Joshua is carrying major ring rust. After all, last night was his third fight in the last 12 months.
Fury, of course, boxes former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on Oct. 28 in Saudi Arabia. Should the WBC heavyweight champion come out on top with ease as expected, it wouldn't be surprising to see him have a fight in early 2024 which would also work with Joshua's timeline of fighting Wilder in January.
Of course, there's the argument that Joshua hasn't done enough to warrant a fight with Fury and it's a fair one. Wins over Franklin and Helenius likely wouldn't do much for any other heavyweight. However, this is Joshua we're talking about — Britain's biggest superstar. He has history and beef with Fury dating back years as well. Fury has been calling for the fight for ages and would certainly be interested even today. And it's not like Joshua is on a losing streak either.
Yes, interest in the fight will be much greater if Joshua were to defeat Wilder. But even if he didn't, the fight will sell regardless just because of how big Fury vs. Joshua would be. The fight was initially set to take place in 2020 when both men were champions with an evenly-split purse with a rematch taking place with the winner getting a 60-40 split. However, Wilder ruined those plans when he was able to get a trilogy fight with Fury. Fury would beat Wilder, but Joshua would go on to lose his heavyweight titles to Oleksandr Usyk and then their eventual rematch. Joshua and Fury lost their opportunity back then — it would be a shame to lose it again if the Wilder fight doesn't pan out for Joshua.
Joe Joyce
In case Team Joshua want Fury to remain as the third and final option of their current plan, another Wilder alternative could be Joe Joyce. The fellow Olympian and Briton has already fought Joshua as an amateur as well as having sparred together. There would also be interest in the matchup, especially from a domestic standpoint.
However, Joyce has business to attend to first. Having previously gone 15-0 with 14 knockouts, Joyce suffered his first career defeat in a sixth-round TKO loss to China's Zhilei Zhang back in April after damage to his eye resulted in the ringside doctor calling off the contest.
The rematch is set for September and should Joyce come out on top, there'd be far worse options than to have him face Joshua in an all-English affair. The duo have also hyped up a potential fight in the past with Joshua claiming he stopped Joyce in one round during sparring and that the result would be the same today.
Lol ok … I’ve shared this ring with most people you see in the heavyweight division today! I boxed Otto wallin twice as youngsters & I boxed joe and stopped him in 1 round. I’d do the same thing today! Ain’t nothing changed. https://t.co/L3dYMJFD8L
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyjoshua) March 9, 2022
Joshua also rolled his eyes at the suggestion that he would ever avoid fighting Joyce today which led to a response from the latter who called for a fight in Nigeria. Both fighters have Nigerian heritage.
“Let’s Go, My Yout! Let’s do it in Nigeria!”
Let’s Go, My Yout! Let’s do it in Nigeria! 🇬🇧🇳🇬#THEJUGGERNAUT https://t.co/sgruDOvhlR
— Joe Joyce (@JoeJoyceBoxing) March 9, 2022
Daniel Dubois
One final option could be another Briton in Daniel Dubois. For now, Dubois has bigger matters to attend to as he is the WBA mandatory to Usyk and will get a chance to challenge for the three heavyweight belts when he fights the Ukrainian in Poland later this month.
Joshua will certainly have a big interest in the matchup. That's because Dubois is a big underdog and is expected to lose. However, should he seemingly pull off the impossible, he'd own the three belts Joshua used to have and seemingly opens a path up for the latter to regain them right away. There'd be no rematch clause for Usyk either since Dubois is a mandatory opponent.
Whether Joshua would get the next shot remains to be seen as Dubois is promoted by Frank Warren just like Tyson Fury, and perhaps there'd be interest in the pair unifying the division once and for all. However, a title unification fight would definitely be much bigger if Anthony Joshua were holding the three belts again going up against Fury.
