Eddie Hearn makes BRUTALLY HONEST Anthony Joshua admission as Tyson Fury showdown looms

Anthony Joshua is right back at heavyweight boxing’s top table right now, but a few months ago many experts felt he might be done as a truly elite fighter.

AJ appeared to be at a crossroads in his career after back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk in world title fights – first in London in 2021 and then in Saudi Arabia in 2022.

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After the second of those losses it appeared the pressure of expectation, and the agony of defeat, had truly got to Joshua as he broke down post-fight.

Those setbacks, and that reaction, had even AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn wondering if we had seen the end of the British superstar as a real world force.

Hearn on Joshua’s darkest hour

Speaking to Piers Morgan Uncensored, Hearn revealed: “We are very fickle as a sports community of ‘he’s finished’. And to be fair – the one incredible thing about AJ when he lost to Oleksandr Usyk in the second fight and broke down in the press conference in tears – I felt it was a long, long way back. Not done, but I felt like his best days may be behind him.”

Despite those dark moments, Hearn says Joshua never spurned the trait which is perhaps his greatest. The one which has already earned him the heavyweight championship of the world on two occasions.

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“The most important thing in life – in sport, in business, whatever it is – consistency. If you are consistent, and you work as hard as you can, and you have ability, you’re unbeatable. And the one thing that he has always done, through his whole career and even since that moment against Oleksandr Usyk, is stay consistent. Keep working, keep searching for the answers, and if the ability is still there, you’ll get back.

Anthony Joshua Eddie Hearn Day of Reckoning
Anthony Joshua talks to promoter Eddie Hearn at the press conference for his ‘Day of Reckoning’ fight vs Otto Wallin in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Photo – Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing).

AJ’s ‘incredible’ comeback

“In fact, the rise of AJ, since that moment, where I’ve never seen him cry before – and to do it in public was very unlike him – and you saw mentally where he was at in the ring afterwards, the comeback has been incredible. To a point now where I feel he is unbeatable in the ring.”

That comeback of course has seen Joshua win four times since those Usyk losses – each time looking even more impressive. His last two fights, under the tutelage of new trainer Ben Davison, have been a revelation.

That Joshua renaissance culminated in that two-round obliteration of Francis Ngannou last month, and it now has him in position again for a world title shot, and that long-awaited superfight vs great British rival Tyson Fury. Hearn for one is looking ahead to that tantalising possibility with relish.

“I’ve always thought he’d beat Tyson Fury but right now I have absolutely no doubt he knocks Tyson Fury out.”