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Eddie Hearn reveals 10-man shortlist for Anthony Joshua's comeback including fellow Olympic champion but does it feature Tyson Fury?
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has stated that Anthony Joshua has a shortlist of 10 heavyweights for his return to the ring in 2026.
Joshua has not fought since he lost to Daniel Dubois at Wembley in 2024, with the 2012 Olympic gold medallist undergoing surgery on his elbow this summer. Originally slated for a comeback before the end of 2025, Hearn has instead intimated that Joshua’s next fight will come in 2026 against a ‘top-20’ contender.
One name that has circled Joshua’s in recent months has been Frenchman Tony Yoka, who claimed gold at the 2016 Olympics.
Asked about Yoka, Hearn told Sky Sports: "Tony Yoka, he's definitely on a list of, I don't know, ten?
“I expect it to be a top-20 guy. It's not going to be top-five. This is a comeback fight that should possess some danger to show that we're ready to roll the dice in a massive fight. Nothing really discussed, no offers made. But I'll be going to see AJ next week and we're ready to lock it in."
Hearn believes that a fight against a lower-ranked fighter would enable Joshua to tee up a bigger fight in the future, with fellow former world champion Tyson Fury clearly in AJ’s sights.
At the start of the month Joshua took to social media to call out Fury, with British fight fans dreaming of a bout between the pair for the best part of a decade.
"Now he's back in training and my conversations over the last couple of weeks have been very positive with him about locking in a date and returning,” Hearn added.
“Then I saw that post [directed at Fury]. When AJ posts something like that, you know that he's on.
"He's like 'let's go, I'm back' and that's where we're up to. So the next move is to lock in that fight in early 2026 and then we want Tyson Fury. We expect Fury to have another fight as well, if he's going to fight AJ.”
Joshua’s team appear confident of finally arranging a bout between their man and Fury, who is currently retired. Similarly to Joshua, ‘The Gypsy King’ has not fought since the back end of 2024, when he lost a rematch to Oleksandr Usyk.
Stressing that nothing was final, Hearn said that Joshua has to come through his next fight unscathed or risk scuppering a date with Fury.
He continued: “There haven't really been any conversations. The kind of vibe I'm getting from the team is 'we're confident it will happen'. But until we start talking, who knows? We're not just putting all our eggs in one basket to say it's Tyson Fury because before that we're going to have another fight and we've got to win that one first."
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