Frank Warren offers Anthony Joshua alternative opponent after Deontay Wilder loss derailed mega-money fight
Frank Warren presents Anthony Joshua with a different opponent following Deontay Wilder’s defeat, which derailed the mega-money bout.
Frank Warren is hoping that after their respective victories on December 23 at the Day of Reckoning, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois square off.
In the main event, in Ridyah, Saudi Arabia, AJ turned back time as he decisively defeated Otto Wallin in five rounds, positioning himself for greatness in 2024.
His next opponent was expected to be former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder; the two bitter rivals had previously agreed to meet.
But after ‘The Bronze Bomber’ was shockingly defeated by Joseph Parker in the co-main event, Joshua is now looking to the heavyweight rankings in search of a well-known opponent.
Warren believes that Joshua would be the ideal dancing partner in Dubois.
In my opinion, [Dubois] could compete against any of those top ten players. A decent fight would even include AJ. The Hall of Fame boxing promoter said on talkSPORT Breakfast on Wednesday, “I could watch that all day long.”
After losing by knockout to Oleksandr Usyk, “DDD” turned things around by stopping undefeated challenger Jarrett Miller in the last seconds of their ten-round fight.
Warren remarked, “I thought Daniel Dubois was brilliant.”
Exceptionally impressive. In a very hard fight against a fighter who is very skilled at gamesmanship, he showed all his critics that he does have heart and forced them to fight until the very end.
When Dubois met Usyk in August, many thought he had knocked him out clean, but the referee ruled it was a low punch, and the Englishman was forced to withdraw after round nine.
“He needed a confidence booster,” Warren continued.
He gave Usyk his hardest fight in the encounter. He struck him in the body, and in my opinion, that was a valid blow. It was absurd that the referee gave him more than four minutes to recuperate.
That argument is over, and he received a lot of backlash on his desire and sincerity in wanting to be the best.
It was a hard fight, so he demonstrated that he does. He needed to look far. He did all those things, even gritting his teeth.
Joshua’s primary objective is to win the heavyweight title three times.
The IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic is the first name AJ named at his post-fight news conference, and he looks to be the quickest path back to success.
Dubois is undoubtedly a more well-known opponent, and he might give Joshua the substantial payment that he was denied when Wilder lost for the third time in his career.
If Warren is able to force a fight, that will only become clear with time.
