Anthony Joshua airs rematch offer as ex-champion ponders shake-up

Joseph Parker has revealed his team reached out to Anthony Joshua to explore a potential heavyweight rematch but their advances were met with no response. The New Zealander is set to return to action in 2023 fresh off the back of his knockout defeat to Joe Joyce and the former WBO world champion was keen to see whether old rival AJ fancied running it back.

Parker went the distance with Joshua in a heavyweight world title unification back in March 2018 in Cardiff but he was beaten on the scorecards.

Now the 30-year-old is keen to make amends for the defeat but it seems Joshua has no interest in a rematch as he ponders his next move.

“It would be nice to get a rematch with Joshua, a rematch with Dillian Whyte and probably in the future, a rematch with Joe Joyce,” Parker told Seconds Out.

“I like to fight those guys that I lost to. Before I flew here and before I locked in this fight, my manager put in a message to Joshua’s team and asked if they wanted to have a rematch.

“We had no reply but we’re still trying to chase those fights, those rematches and it would be awesome if we can. It’s just up to each fighter and their team.”

Joshua was anticipated to fight in December after losing to Oleksandr Usyk in August but he has since decided to take some time out of the ring as he eyes another potential corner shake-up.

Earlier this month he was back in Derrick James’ gym, which is currently home to world champions Errol Spence Jr and Jermell Charlo.

Roy Jones Jr has also offered his services to AJ but he is yet to decide who will be in his corner for his next fight.

Promoter Eddie Hearn is now confident there is a professional relationship with Shelley Finkel, one that could be enough to finally execute a heavyweight mega-fight with Deontay Wilder.

“The communication lines are good now, between me and Shelly Finkel [Wilder’s manager],” Hearn recently said.

“We’ve had a lot of talks, a lot of chats [but] until the training team is confirmed for AJ, we really won’t make any opponent selection because we want the input of a trainer.

We’ve got three or four guys that we are talking to and ready to try and make a move for, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to make sure that the training team are comfortable with that.”

“[Wilder] has been ordered to fight Andy Ruiz … I’m guessing that is what he is going to do next. At the same time, we’d like Dillian Whyte to fight Deontay Wilder in the interim or AJ in the summer.

We will have to see but it looks like Wilder will fight Ruiz and AJ will fight at the end of March/April and Dillian Whyte may fight as well and I think they’re all going to come together in the summer.”

Joshua has now lost three of his last five fights as he targets another run at a world title.

The heavyweight scene is expected to open up in 2023, when it’s believed some belts will be vacated following a potential undisputed clash between Usyk and Tyson Fury.