Eddie Hearn wants Anthony Joshua to take a “tune-up” fight, but even that could be dangerous

There was a moment not too long ago where Anthony Joshua reigned supreme in the heavyweight division. While not everyone was in love with his fighting style, the results spoke for themselves. But then came a major setback, in the form of a stunning loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. Since then, Joshua just hasn’t been the same, but 2024 was a truly backbreaking one for him.

With a little bit of momentum behind him following two straight losses to Oleksandr Usyk, Joshua headed into a world title fight against Daniel Dubois with a mega-fight against Tyson Fury the goal in the immediate future. Instead, Dubois knocked out Joshua in the fifth round, took the spotlight and put the Joshua-Fury fight on the backburner. Joshua’s brutal loss put a damper on that potential fight against Fury, with the former’s starpower now dwindling. Meanwhile, Fury is still in “retirement” yet waiting for the opportunity to get a third crack at Usyk.

Eddie Hearn identifies four opponents for Anthony Joshua’s pre-Tyson Fury fight

While all of this plays out, Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, needs to come up with a roadmap for his fighter. Hearn is still adamant that a Fury-Joshua fight will happen and that it will be a major success. But Joshua can’t keep waiting around forever, especially with the stain of the Dubois loss still lingering. With that in mind, Hearn has reportedly identified four potential opponents for Joshua in what he calls a “comeback fight“.

Those four opponents are Jared Anderson, Frank Sanchez, Efe Jagba and Tony Yoka. Despite those being candidates for a tune-up fight, fans and analysts aren’t totally sold on the idea of them being easy for Joshua. In fact, plenty believe he could lose to any one of them. Considering how bad Joshua has looked against top opponents in recent years, and how middling the competition in his victories were, there’s real concern about any fight being a true tune-up.

Joshua has to fight, though, in order to stay in form ahead of what Hearn is hoping is a bout against Fury next summer. Theoretically, Hearn can find an easier opponent for Joshua, but then it would be hard to sell tickets for that event. Hearn is not in the easiest position at the moment.