AJ eyes return in June/July

Great news. Starting to turn me into a fan.

 

Which tough fight are you talking about? Maybe he hurt his right hand pulverizing Ngannou but otherwise be barely broke a sweat.

 

I feel he will be too confident in his next fight and will lose badly.(it depends on opponents of course)

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it's gonna be AJ vs Wilder.

The plan is AJ vs Hrgovic this year, but Hrgovic is the official backup fighter for Fury-Usyk so he's not gonna book another fight for June/July probably.

Not sure who else AJ can fight. Parker and Zhang are tied up.

 

If Anderson wins his next fight then he should fight Joshua and after Joshua destroys him then he's up next for Hrgovic since he's the backup for Fury Usyk and can't schedule a fight.

 

I can see IBF putting up an interim belt for Joshua and Hrgovic, which would be fine IMO.
It keeps the division moving while giving us an opportunity to keep the undisputed championship intact.

 

Me too.

AJ & Parker keeping nice and busy.

 

Hrgovic is the right option and if Usuk/fury fight, then rematch later in the year? Then Parker/zhang would be a great fight sometime in the Autumn/winter

He will knock out Hrgovic in the later rounds

 

My concern is if the IBF isn't vacant and both AJ and Hrgovic take crap fights in the interim.

 

We probably won't know for sure if the IBF title will be vacant until late May/early June and Hrgovic is also on standby if Fury goes AWOL. So that could mean that a deal isn't struck until some time in June which means the fight will be in August at the earliest. So, yeah, Joshua could well look to fight before that.

Jared Anderson could be an option for a fight in June/July and that wouldn't be bad. Would still leave room for Hrgovic and maybe even a fourth fight this year. Hopefully the winner of Parker-Zhang 2 if Joshua makes it that far. Would make for a brilliant year of HW boxing.

 

After reading/ skimming all posts what about Martin Bakole as an opponent? Just saw Bakole interviewed by iFL TV. He was calling out AJ, said he should've fought him (mentioned other top HWs) instead of Ngannou. When the interviewer mentioned Whyte's name, Martin shook his head and started cussing DW. Said he'd retire Whyte if they meet.

I suppose most here think Bakole isn't a big enough name for AJ... but what if Filip fight doesn't come off? Usyk, Fury, Parker, Zhang are busy. Wilder has fallen to mid-lower top 10. Is Bakole a good substitute?

 

Big respect to both fighters if they make this happen. Personally I think AJ knocks him out in 7 because Hrgovic looked too vulnerable against a gassed Zhang.

 

Dont see why not. He barely broke some sweat in his last fight.

 

Most boxers fight 3 x per year as they need a 12 week camp, with the first 6 cutting weight as none of them like fighting anyone their own size.

So for a HW not cutting it should be handy