Following his defeat at Wembley, Anthony Joshua will face Daniel Dubois again in Saudi Arabia and will choose his trainer, Ben Davison. Following their Wembley brawl, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois are scheduled to rematch in Riyadh.
Dubois’ incredible fifth-round knockout victory came after sending AJ to the canvas FOUR times.
In Saudi Arabia, Anthony Joshua will face Daniel Dubois again.
Soon after, the topic of Joshua’s future came up. A rematch was being discussed, but Tyson Fury was also scheduled to fight Oleksandr Usyk on December 21. However, AJ is leaning toward taking another shot at Dubois and the IBF title, according to his promoter Eddie Hearn, and a decision is about to be made.
“If it was up to AJ, straight rematch,” Hearn stated to FightHub.
“But he will take the advice of me and 258 [Management] and Ben Davison and everybody and then he will make the decision.
“But it will be a decision that probably comes in the next couple of weeks.”
Usyk, 37, defeated Fury, 36, in May to become the first-ever heavyweight champion to hold four belts without losing. But when Dubois, 27, was promoted from interim champion, he gave up the IBF title to move forward with the winter rematch.
The 34-year-old Joshua may think about waiting for Fury to face Usyk before taking on his British opponent, but doing so puts him at risk of being left out.
And Hearn revealed Saudi Arabia’s boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh is on board for AJ to rematch Dubois.
But with rerun eyed for February, it would fall under Riyadh Season meaning the rivalry looks likely to head to the Middle East.
Hearn said: “I think it would be part of Riyadh Season in Riyadh. Riyadh Season runs from October to end of February, early March.
“So anything within that period takes place in Riyadh. So yeah, it would be part of Riyadh Season if it were to happen.”
In the aftermath of Joshua’s loss his coaching team led by head trainer Davison came under fire.
But Hearn talked down any threat of Davison being sacked as a result.
He said: “He’s happy. He has to make the changes himself. There was a clear plan of what to do but he didn’t do it.
“And you have to give credit to Daniel Dubois. I don’t think it should just be, ‘Oh, AJ didn’t box well.’ Dubois did really well and hats off to him.
“But he’s happy with his training camp, he was in great condition, he was sparring really well.
“So, in my opinion there won’t be any changes. He’s got to put it right and he can do it himself.”
Ben Davison came under criticism for Joshua’s loss