Anthony Joshua, despite his desire for revenge, cannot do anything because the fate of his rematch with Daniel Dubois is completely in the hands of a powerful third party.
Just two days after his humiliating, comprehensive defeat to Daniel Dubois in the IBF heavyweight title fight at the legendary Wembley Stadium in front of a record 96,000 live audience, Anthony Joshua has just mentioned the rematch.
Joshua’s agent, famous promoter Eddie Hearn also revealed that “there is a guarantee clause for the Joshua vs Dubois rematch” and “his client would be willing to activate that clause”.
“I’m sure AJ will activate the Dubois rematch clause. What AJ needs to do now is rest because the last fight was really dangerous. AJ is always strong and this guy always knows how to regain confidence in any situation,” Eddie Hearn said on DAZN.
While Eddie Hearn was adamant, prominent promoter Frank Warren claimed that his fighter (Daniel Dubois) “does not have a guaranteed rematch clause with Joshua”. However, Warren confirmed on TalkSport that Dubois’ team is always ready to sit down and negotiate a rematch with AJ.
The exact terms of the Joshua-Dubois rematch are unclear. The Mail has just revealed that even Joshua’s team cannot decide for themselves, and all decisions regarding the rematch terms are in the hands of a third party, specifically “boss” Turki Alalshikh.
That’s the head of the Saudi Arabian Entertainment Authority, which is organising the Riyadh Season series of events – including the IBF title fight between Joshua and Dubois in the UK last weekend.
Almost all of the biggest and most prestigious boxing events in the world over the past 5 years have taken place in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and are all decided by one “boss” Turki Alalshikh, from organizing the matches, setting the schedule and especially offering huge remuneration to the boxers.
British media previously shared that Turki Alalshikh “has a special fondness for Anthony Joshua” and really wants AJ to join Tyson Fury in creating a classic British civil war boxing match in the near future. But clearly after the shocking defeat with 4 knockdowns and a final knockout loss in the 5th round against Dubois, Joshua’s future is now bleaker than ever.
Whether Joshua will be given the opportunity to step into the ring to take revenge on Dubois or not will depend on both Turki Alalshikh’s wishes and, importantly, the outcome of the Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk rematch later this year.
Tyson Fury himself also wants to fight Anthony Joshua once to “settle all grudges” and pocket a salary that is expected to be a record high.
So it’s no surprise that when he sat right under the ring watching AJ get knocked out by Dubois early Sunday morning, Tyson Fury angrily shouted: “Joshua, that’s my $150 million gone!”, implying that the match between the two is unlikely to be bet on in the future.
