Anthony Joshua set deadline for do-or-die Daniel Dubois rematch as career hangs in the balance
ANTHONY JOSHUA’s hopes of a rematch with Daniel Dubois are well and truly alive – but a deadline has been set for the potentially do-or-die dust-up.
The Watford warrior suffered a crushing defeat to his former sparring partner and IBF heavyweight champion in their Wembley war last month.
AJ, 34, was knocked down four times before being stopped in the fifth round of the domestic dust-up, which he suggested he wanted to immediately run back.
And he’ll be permitted to exact his revenge on Dubois – so long as the fight takes place before April 22.
IBF regulations permit champions to make voluntary title defences after undertaking a mandatory, which last month’s bout with AJ was for Dubois.
Dubois, 27, is allowed to take part in a voluntary title fight within nine months of his maiden defence of the IBF strap.
So that means the door is open for him to rematch AJ, although he’ll have to take part in a mandatory defence within 60 days of his voluntary.
As it stands, Dubois will have to face his mandatory challenger – who will emerge from the clash between Martin Bakole and Agit Kabayel – by June 21.
An excerpt of IBF regulations read:” [The champion] shall be obligated to mandatorily defend his championship within intervals of no more than nine months against the leading available contender in the heavyweight division as designated by the championship‘s chairman.”
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Greenwich giant Dubois is open to sharing the ring with Joshua again, recently telling SecondsOut: “We’re making plans for what we’re gonna do now.
“I’ve heard AJ wants the rematch. We’ll see. If he wants it, I want it, too.
“We came out on top on the night, I was the better man on the night, but there’s no disrespect.
“I’m not gonna badmouth him or anything. It was a great fight and if we can do it again, it’ll be even bigger.”
Joshua, according to promoter Eddie Hearn, is still hellbent on avenging his fourth professional defeat.
The Matchroom Boxing chief told Sky Sports: “When you start actually thinking about it, I don’t think there’s a bad decision to make.
“I know that he is leaning towards the rematch.
“Because he wants to win the world heavyweight title – versus fighting [Deontay] Wilder [or] waiting for [Tyson] Fury.
“And then you’ve got all next year bubbling around, not really fighting for the world heavyweight title.
“If it’s solely down to AJ, which it will be at the end of the day, I think it’s going to be very hard to talk him out of taking the rematch.”