Anthony Joshua details retirement plan that will see him walk away in two years as he makes U-turn on initial plan

04/04/2024 20:00

Anthony Joshua plans to hang up his gloves in just two years’ time.

The two-time heavyweight world champion, who is currently in the midst of a career resurgence, is 34 years of age and so known to be entering the latter stages of his boxing journey.

However, the prospect of AJ quitting boxing for good will still come as a surprise to many British boxing fans, who have been awaiting a showdown between him and Tyson Fury for several years.

In fact, Joshua has explained his initial plan was to retire when he turns 35 in October of this year.

Now though, he expects to keep fighting for a couple more years.

“I've always said 35,” AJ said on this week’s Jonathan Ross show, which airs on Saturday night on ITV.

“I'm 35 in October, I'm thinking another two years or so if my body holds out.

“I've set up certain businesses that I can transition into naturally which don't rely on me being at the forefront."

Joshua knocked out Francis Ngannou in March to pick up a fourth consecutive win within the space of 12 months.

These recent triumphs followed his devastating defeats to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022 – where he lost his belts and then failed to win them back – and have seen him return to the top table in the heavyweight division once again.

In his next bout, AJ is expected to either face the winner of Fury vs Usyk – who meet for the undisputed crown on May 18 – or compete for a belt the winner is expected to be forced to vacate after that fight.

Due to the fact Fury and Usyk have a guaranteed rematch clause, the winner of their first contest will not be able to satisfy the IBF mandatory obligation to fight Filip Hrgovic.

Therefore Hrgovic is likely to face either Joshua or Daniel Dubois for the vacant IBF heavyweight world title.

If it is indeed Hrgovic vs Dubois, then this would reportedly take place as part of the upcoming 5 vs 5 event between Frank Warren’s Queensberry and Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom on June 1, teeing the winner up to then take on Joshua later this year.

AJ concluded by giving an update on his next fight, indicating that this may indeed be the scenario.

“Around September is when I've been told,” he said as he revealed the target date, “I was hoping June.

“I've got some time to go on dates now and mingle a little bit.

“I'm training at the minute, I've got two months before I get into training camp.”

Joshua burst onto the international scene at the 2012 Olympic Games where he won a gold medal and turned professional a year later, making his debut against Emanuele Leo at the 02.

He won his first world title in 2016 by beating Charles Martin and didn’t lose until Andy Ruiz stunned the world when he knocked him out in New York in 2019.

He avenged that defeat and won back his belts the same year, beat Kubrat Pulev in 2020 and was beaten again, this time by Usyk in 2021. Since his second defeat to champion Usyk, he has won four straight fights, the most recent of which being against Ngannou.

His last win took his knockout rate to 89 per cent and he has been so impressive recently that talkBOXING host Spencer Oliver reckons this version even beats the supremely talented Usyk.

“I contribute a lot of AJ’s recent success to [trainer] Ben Davison, because a fighter needs to have that confidence to follow instructions. Ben Davison is a great study of the game, and he tactically always gets it right,” he said, claiming it would be 50/50 if he were to take on WBC king Fury.

“A happy fighter is a dangerous fighter, it seems like everything is right for him and we have seen that in his recent performances.

“There was talk of him fighting Tyson Fury twelve months ago, and you wouldn’t even have had the conversation that he could beat him. You’d have said it was 90/10 in Fury’s favour.”