Anthony Joshua told to target alternative fight with Brit rival after rematch with Daniel Dubois collapsed

1 month ago 5

ANTHONY JOSHUA has been told to focus on another British rematch as he looks to walk away from talks to fight Daniel Dubois again.

AJ was dropped FOUR times inside five rounds before his brutal knockout loss to Dubois in September at Wembley.

Anthony Joshua is ruled out of rematching Daniel Dubois[/caption]

And a return bout was on the cards for February in Saudi Arabia – until Joshua’s team suggested injury could force him out.

Dubois now look set to take on a new challenger in Riyadh while AJ is plotting a summer return.

And former world cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew named Dillian Whyte as an alternate rival to fight next.

He told talkSPORT: “It’s a difficult one because I’d assume he’d have wanted the rematch.

“It’s an event any time he steps in the boxing ring, if AJ just says he is coming back against Charlie Chaplin it sells out Wembley.

“The fact is he’s a huge global name and the main faces of boxing never mind just the heavyweight division.

“So it never really matters who he fights, people just want to see him in the ring again.

“There’s so many names, but who wouldn’t want to see him face Dillian Whyte again?

“The first fight they had was fantastic, and there really is so many other fights too.”

Joshua, 35, knocked out Whyte, 36, in 2015 almost ten years after losing their amateur bout.

And they were due to rematch in August 2023 until Whyte returned an “adverse finding” in pre-fight drug tests.

Whyte was later cleared to fight again after a contaminated supplement was determined to have caused the finding.

The heavyweight returned with victory over Christian Hammer, 36, in March and faces Ebenezer Tetteh, 36, on Sunday, December 15.

Joshua meanwhile is awaiting the result of Tyson Fury’s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk on December 21.

Fury, 36, lost his WBC title and undefeated record in May against Usyk, 37, who became the first four-belt undisputed heavyweight champ.

But Usyk was forced to vacate the IBF version to proceed with the rematch as Dubois was elevated from the interim belt.

AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn warned they could wait to fight Fury next year.

So Dubois is in talks for a new opponent with Joseph Parker, 32, and Zhilei Zhang, 41, among those linked.

And Jake Paul has emerged as an unlikely contender after sharing a message from the heavyweight champ.

Joshua beat Dillian Whyte in 2015[/caption]