Anthony Joshua may still be feeling the mental and physical agony from his brutal fifth-round stoppage defeat to Daniel Dubois on Saturday night.
What is more, in the wake of his fourth professional loss, some of boxing’s most widely respected figures have urged the 34-year-old to carve out his exit from the sport.
Prince Naseem Hamed was one of the first to call for ‘AJ’ to retire, with the likes of Ricky Hatton swiftly following suit.
However, Joshua has largely addressed these retirement claims on social media, indicating that he still has so much more to offer in the heavyweight division.
Eddie Hearn responds to Anthony Joshua retirement claims
By losing in such devastating fashion to Daniel Dubois, it is fair to say that Anthony Joshua, should he wish to reach boxing’s elite level once more, has got a long, arduous road ahead of him.
Even so, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is seemingly confident that the two-time heavyweight champion has what it takes to prove his detractors wrong.
“In boxing, and this isn’t a reflection of [Hatton or Hamed] by the way but, in boxing, a lot of people want you out of the game,” Hearn told IFLTV. “Some people don’t want you to have any more legacy, and some people care for you and think, ‘why do you need it anymore.’
“But life doesn’t really work like that. When you have a burning passion for something, and when you’re physically still very able to do it, and when you think that you have bigger opportunities – and a path to walk that hasn’t quite been finished yet – it’s very difficult to say, ‘[I’m ready to retire].’”
Will the Daniel Dubois vs Anthony Joshua rematch take place?
In the aftermath of Saturday’s barnburner at Wembley Stadium, there was, of course, a rather unexpected twist that few had anticipated before it was revealed.
Despite making a terrific defence of his IBF world heavyweight title, Dubois now finds himself tangled up in a rematch clause which Joshua can activate at any time.
It has since been clarified that the clause had been agreed upon prior to when the IBF awarded Dubois with the full title after it was relinquished by Oleksandr Usyk.
Regardless of what has been written in each fighter’s contract, though, the very one-sided nature of their first encounter has left many pondering whether a sequel is truly necessary.