Eddie Hearn reacted to Anthony Joshua’s victory over Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin by saying that Joshua is back.

‘He’s back, he’s destroying people in sparring, I believe he’s the best heavyweight in the world,’ said Hearn. ‘It was a punch-perfect performance. He dispatched him.

It was a stunning performance, in this mindset and this team, I think he’s unbeatable. ‘2024 will be a massive year for him. It was a tough decision, between the championship and Wilder, we signed for Wilder, he lost, that’s OK. Maybe it’s a blessing.

‘This guy is about championships, he wants to become a three-time world champion. Wallin was No 2. It’ll be Hrgovic vs AJ for the world title. I’m so happy to see him smiling and performing so well. ‘


Two men Joshua could have fought instead of Wallin were Deontay Wilder and Francis Ngannou, but Ngannou had made it clear that only Tyson Fury would bring him back to the ring. Also, talks between Joshua’s and Wilder’s team failed to beat fruit speedily.

It is now more hard to get Joshua to fight anyone but Filip Hrgovic. Joshua and the Croatian might have to contend for the IBF belt after the undisputed world heavyweight championship bout between Tyson Fury and Oleksander Usyk.

The reason is that Hrgovic is the IBF mandatory challenger, and that the IBF declared that the IBF champion at the end of the Fury-Usyk bout must face Hrgovic or vacate the title. This order presented a problem, since there is a rematch clause in the Fury-Usyk fight contract.