Anthony Joshua returns to the ring this September with an opponent set to be announced next week.

The 34-year-old is on a run of four victories after losing his unified titles to Oleksandr Usyk – now undisputed champ – and is looking for a route back to at least one of them.

That may be presented by the IBF. The sanctioning body could strip Usyk of its belt for failure to fulfil his mandatory obligations against current Interim Champion, Daniel Dubois.

Promoter Eddie Hearn says that’s the target fight, but that the team will look elsewhere if the belt isn’t on the line. The next likely contender is China’s Zhilei Zhang, followed by a rematch with New Zealand’s Joseph Parker.

Speaking to Boxing King Media, former cruiserweight world champion turned pundit Johnny Nelson said he was certain it was Dubois despite no news on the IBF stance.

“It’s Dubois. It’s Daniel Dubois. If you know you know. Does it make better financial sense? Yeah. Is it the lesser of two evils? Yeah. You hear many rumours about how they sparred, the ding dongs… Sparring and fighting are two different things.”

As for a prediction should the fight be announced as Nelson expects, he believes Joshua presents a different proposition than Dubois’ last win against Hrgovic and backs the two-time champ to come out on top.

“Even though Dubois is kind of on a roll now coming through, I think AJ’s worn that t-shirt, danced that dance. This is AJ’s time in this situation. He’ll be too sharp. He hits too hard, too concussively, for Dubois to get hit. And we see he gets hit.

Anthony Joshua’s a lot quicker, taller, hits harder, a lot more athletic than Hrgovic. Styles make fights.”

There will be a press conference on Wednesday June 26 to announce the Wembley card in full.