Anthony Joshua Boxing Return Timeline Revealed By Promoter After Injury in Car Crash

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn revealed a potential timeline for Anthony Joshua to return to the ring after the former heavyweight boxing champion was involved in a car accident last December in Nigeria that killed two of his team members and close friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele.

"Originally, the plan for AJ was for him to fight in March and then fight Tyson Fury in August. That's not happening," Hearn told reporters in Nottingham, England on Thursday, per ESPN's James Regan.

"He's not fighting Tyson Fury next. He's going to come back, I believe, late summer, but physically he's not yet in a position to return to camp.

"I'm planning, but he's just resting and preparing.

"So, for me, I'm looking at options to get him back in the ring in July time, but we'll only know if that's a real possibility when he returns to camp, which will hopefully be in the next couple of weeks or a month.

"I think every fight is dangerous, coming off what he's come off. We're open to the Fury fight but probably more likely [near the] end of the year, maybe early 2027."

Per Jack Rathborn of The Independent, Joshua suffered minor injuries in the accident. He returned to training in mid-January. Obviously, Joshua has suffered a severe mental and emotional toll after losing two people so close to him, and Hearn recognized in mid-January that the boxer would need time before returning to the ring, per comments made to Michael Bridge of Sky Sports News.

"He will need his time physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually before he makes a decision on his future. I do think he will want to return to boxing, but that will be his decision when the time is right."

The 36-year-old Joshua has held the unified heavyweight championship two different times in 2017 and 2021. He has a 29-4 record lifetime with 26 knockouts. Joshua's latest victory was in December via sixth-round knockout over Jake Paul.