Joshua has three backup options if Fury fight falls through

Eddie Hearn has revealed the three backup option for his fighter if Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua falls through. Before Fury’s offer, the Matchroom Boxing chief was looking to match up AJ with a top 15 boxer as he looks to rebuild from his back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk.

The three names that were given were Filip Hrgovic, Otto Wallin and Zhang Zhilei, all of whom are currently looking for their next fights. Hrgovic and Zhang fought each other on the Joshua-Usyk II undercard in an IBF final eliminator bout.

Hrgovic came away the victor after being put down in the first but many believed that Zhang had done enough to win. Wallin, meanwhile, has looked less than impressive since his career-best showing against Fury but is still among the most highly rated heavyweight prospects.

“He [Joshua] wouldn’t want a soft touch, that would work against him,” Hearn told the DAZN Boxing Show. “The last thing AJ wants is a gimme fight. And we are not interested in gimme fights, there has to be an element of risk.”

“This can be who’s the real king of Africa, that’s how they would try to sell it. The biggest fight in history was the Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire,” said Nelson. “Martin was born in Kananga and educated in Kinshasa and that’s where that fight was. I know for a fact that the Congolese government will back it one hundred per cent. I’ve been told by the government that they would back an Anthony Joshua fight in Congo.

“You take that fight to Kinshasa and there will tens of thousands of people there. The interest in Africa would be huge. 1.1million people watched his fight with Tony Yoka, now, how many people are going to watch Martin vs AJ in Africa? AJ would get the money that he demands because the government would help out. You’d get huge sponsors over in Africa as well. I did offer it to 258 (Joshua’s management) but they weren’t interested.”