Anthony Joshua proposed huge heavyweight fight if Daniel Dubois rejects rematch: ‘I’m signing now’

For many years, Anthony Joshua sat at the very top of the tree in the heavyweight division.

After winning his first world title by taking the IBF belt from Charles Martin, he went on to beat all competitors, including Joseph Parker and Wladimir Klitschko, to become the unified champion.

An early setback came in June 2019 when he was upset by Andy Ruiz Jr’s late position in his US debut at Madison Square Garden, but ‘AJ’ avenged that defeat with a clear points victory in Saudi Arabia in December of the same year.

After a victory over Kubrat Pulev, the two-time world champion then fought consecutively with Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022. He lost his belts in the former after 12 hard-fought rounds and failed to win them back. in the rematch. Usyk has since become undisputed champion after beating Tyson Fury in May.

Last time out in September, Joshua was knocked down multiple times in his bid to become a three-time champion, ending in a fifth-round stoppage loss to IBF champion Daniel Dubois.

He is believed to want a rematch to return to the world title, but has now been called out by Zhilei Zhang, who told Boxing News he is ready to go and avenge the defeat he suffered against Joshua at the Olympics in 2012.

“Eddie is taking the lead right now. Let’s say Eddie sends me the contract tomorrow, I’ll sign it tomorrow. I am very interested, I want to recover this Olympic defeat in London.

Zhang recently stopped Deontay Wilder and Joe Joyce, but was unable to beat Parker at the distance. He’s keen to avenge that defeat, but would likely pass it up for a long-awaited shot at Joshua – perhaps finally getting his wish to fight at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest National Stadium.

It remains to be seen whether the British team believes the Chinese southpaw is worth the risk of a Dubois title rematch at this stage of his career.