Eddie Hearn has said he expects Anthony Joshua to box again after the heavyweight’s involvement in a fatal car crash, but the promoter is making no promises.
On 29 December, Joshua was injured in a car accident in Nigeria that claimed the lives of two of his close friends. Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele had been members of the British heavyweight’s team for the majority of “AJ”’s professional career, and their deaths have led to much speculation over Joshua’s fighting future.
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Yet Joshua, 36, returned to the gym two weeks later, after attending the funerals of Ghami and Ayodele and before posting an emotional video message for his fans.
In that video, the former two-time world champion did not address his future in the ring, but his promoter Hearn has continued to field questions on the matter.
“I don’t think there is any guarantees he fights again, but at the same time, I expect him to because it is something that he loves,” the Matchroom boss told First Round TV.
“And it is something he can carry those guys with him through as well, and it is something he wants to do. From a boxing sense, physically it wasn’t easy what he went through either. People probably don’t realise the extent of that.
Anthony Joshua addressed his fans in an emotional video in January, weeks after he was involved in a fatal car crash (Anthony Joshua)
“He has been training, but he is not ready yet and won’t be for a while to return to [full] boxing training.
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“Before this terrible incident, we were geared up to fight in March and then fight Tyson Fury. Obviously that is not happening now, and I don’t know if it will ever happen right now.
“But I think in the next few weeks and month, he may start to return and just turn the dial up a little bit more on training, and see where he is at.”
Joshua’s crash, in which he and his friends were passengers on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, occurred just 10 days after the Briton fought Jake Paul in Miami.
Joshua beat influencer Jake Paul via knockout in December (PA Wire)
Joshua stopped the YouTuber-turned-boxer in six rounds, breaking the American’s jaw to bounce back from a 2024 KO by Daniel Dubois.
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As Hearn said, there were plans for AJ to build to a long-awaited domestic clash with Fury, but those plans have been drastically affected by December’s incident.
Still, Fury will emerge from his fifth career retirement when he boxes in April, taking on Russia’s Arslanbek Makhmudov somewhere in the UK.