Anthony Joshua wants Tyson Fury fight ‘more than anything’ – promoter Eddie Hearn explains the plan that would lead to it | Boxing News

Plans are being set in place that could lead Anthony Joshua to “the biggest fight in the sport” with Tyson Fury.

Fury, who has sat out the entirety of 2025, has indicated that he does want to box again next year.

Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has welcomed Fury’s expected return.

“It’s exactly what everybody wanted to hear,” Hearn told Sky Sports. “The thing that AJ wants more than anything, is to fight Tyson Fury.

“That is the biggest fight in the sport… I’m hopeful.

“The only thing that is close to that level [for Joshua] is to win the world heavyweight championship again, which is a big motivation for him.”

The showdown with Fury would be next summer, with Joshua boxing at least once, but possibly twice, before then.

There’s a “small chance” Joshua could box before the end of this year and he will fight early in 2026, potentially in February.

“The plan’s very important,” Hearn said. “The most important thing is making sure he’s 110 per cent confident and ready to beat Tyson Fury. We need to be able to plan that for AJ to make sure that he’s in the best place possible for what will be the biggest moment of his career, I believe.

“If he fights this year, that will be a pure run out. It won’t be a top 15 guy,” the promoter continued. “He’s either going to have those two fights before Tyson Fury, if that can get made, or he’s going to have the one fight in February.

“We haven’t really decided yet but he’s keen to get active.”

Fury would, in all likelihood, have a tune-up bout himself too. That could be a risk. Previous contests with Otto Wallin, for instance, and Francis Ngannou were warm-ups for bigger fights that turned out to be trickier than anticipated.

But Hearn reflected: “If he can’t win the tune-up, then he shouldn’t be getting in the ring [with AJ].

“We want both guys firing on all cylinders to give the public the best version of them and if we can’t get the best version of them, then maybe we don’t do the fight.

“What we don’t want is two guys who have been out for a year and a half, getting in there and they’re both a little bit rusty.

“We need to allow these guys, who have been out of the ring for a long time, to be at their absolute pomp when they meet each other.”

Allen the test Itauma needs

Dave Allen could put himself into consideration as a potential opponent for Joshua ahead of the Fury fight, if the Doncaster man can beat Arslanbek Makhmudov on Saturday.

“All I’m saying is a victory would probably put him in that top 20, top 15 in the world, which he already is with the WBA and we’re going to be picking from a list like that. And he’s British. And he’s very popular. I don’t know who it would be [for the AJ warm-up],” Hearn said.

“I don’t think there’s one heavyweight in the world, outside of Oleksandr Usyk, that you couldn’t match Dave Allen with if he wins on Saturday.

“I even put Anthony Joshua into that mix, I put Tyson Fury into that mix because they’re two guys that are going to be having a ‘comeback’ fight. [Moses] Itauma, Derek Chisora, Andy Ruiz, Deontay Wilder, Agit Kabayel, Zhilei Zhang.”

Allen could make sense for rising star Moses Itauma.

“I don’t think there’s a fight Dave wouldn’t take. It is about the money at this stage,” Hearn explained. “Itauma’s a very tough fight, but Dave’s got a good style to test the things we don’t know about Moses. Which is chin, engine and how tough he is, basically.

“Dave’s the guy that can weather the storm to take you into those rounds to find out. He’s of course an underdog against Moses, a lot of people are.

“But again one step at a time, Saturday night and then the world is his oyster as they say.”