Anthony Joshua is at a crossroads in his career.
'AJ', who was long the face of British boxing and may yet be, suffered his fourth career defeat at the weekend - perhaps the toughest of all. It came via explosive punches from Daniel Dubois in the fifth round of their IBF world title fight, who was knocked down three times before the fight ended.
Prior to that, he lost 12 rounds to Usyk, but was never knocked down. In 2019, the Brit suffered a loss to Andy Ruiz Jr, although he easily avenged it on points later that year.
Joshua himself has promised he will not retire and there is a possibility he could go straight to a rematch with Dubois, although his promoter Eddie Hearn has also hinted he could wait until Oleksandr Usyk's rematch with Tyson Fury in December to aimed at Fury.
Joshua's former trainer Robert Garcia, who was in his corner for the second bout with Usyk, spoke to ESNEWS and is convinced he should fight, citing two potential matchups – Fury and Deontay Wilder.
"No, he shouldn't retire! The Fury fight is still a big fight for him. Even if Fury loses again to Usyk, they fight each other in England and that's big, they could sell 200,000 tickets if they fight each other. Another big fight for Anthony is also Wilder. Those are two big fights no matter what happened in their last fights, Fury and Wilder, both fights are big for Joshua in England. He can still win those fights because he has great power," Garcia said.
Joshua has bounced back well from defeat before, but at 34 he will know that many more are likely to spell the end of a brilliant campaign. While Fury's bout hinges on a future fight, talks with Wilder could begin immediately as he is also coming off a loss. /Telegraph/
