19 hours Ago By Aaron Morris
Anthony Joshua has been listening to the advice of Mike Tyson following his knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September. On a four-fight winning streak at the time, many favoured AJ to clinch the vacant IBF heavyweight world championship when he met 'DDD' at Wembley. However, the fight was ultimately a polar opposite state of affairs - Dubois besting the two-time title holder before finishing the job in the fifth.
Joshua looked to finish the contest as he rocked his opponent during the round, storming in after catching him with a flurry of hard right hands. It was an unwise move on AJ's part, however, as he was caught with a counter right hook by Dubois during the exchange and sent spiralling towards the canvas, resulting in the fourth loss of his professional boxing career. And it appears as though rather than sulking in the doom and gloom of defeat, Joshua has heeded Tyson's advice that he offered to Errol Spence Jr after his first defeat.
Spence Jr hasn't fought since his 2023 TKO loss to Terence Crawford, which saw him relinquish his WBA (Super), WBC and IBF welterweight titles. And speaking about the instance during an appearance on the It Is What It Is podcast, Tyson explained that a single loss should not spell the end for a fighter's career. The former heavyweight champion of the world explained: "The sky's the limit.
That doesn't mean nothing, a loss. He [Spence] can still make a lot of money. This is what fighters nowadays [do].
They lose a fight, they get discouraged, [think] I might not do this no more. That's what life's about - you don't get discouraged. "In life you're going to lose.
..whatever.
Lose our job, lose our mother, lose our teeth, lose our hair, and we've got to continue to live, continue to navigate." Joshua's promotor, Eddie Hearn , insists that Joshua has no thoughts of retiring any time soon, explaining that the Briton wants to become world champion once more. He also had hopes of facing off against the winner of Dubois vs Joseph Parker before 'DDD' pulled out of their showdown on Saturday night, citing illness.
Parker will now face Martin Bakole instead. Speaking to BetFred, Hearn explained: "Right now because Tyson Fury is retired, so put him to the side, the number one choice for AJ is to fight for the world heavyweight title. That's 99 per cent of what he wants to do and if that's Daniel Dubois, no problem.
If that's Joseph Parker, no problem. "If AJ turns around and says that's what he's doing, then it's done. It's not me saying he can't fight Daniel Dubois.
Some people say he shouldn't have fought Oleksandr Usyk. What are you talking about? It's your job, he's the mandatory, what do you want to do? Give your belt up and have all that criticism that you ducked Usyk and you vacated your belt to do it?" Hearn also explained that Joshua isn't planning on following Tyson Fury into retirement any time soon, as the 'Gypsy King' announced he was stepping away from the sport in January following back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk - pouring cold water on any hopes of a long-awaited showdown between him and Joshua. Dubois was on a three-fight winning streak over Joshua, Filip Hrgovic, and Jarrell Miller before he was forced to withdraw from his fight at the Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Parker, who is unbeaten in his last five fights, is now planning to add Bakole's name to his impressive list of recent victories, which includes Deontay Wilder , Zhilei Zhang and Simon Kean..
