Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois 2 may not be next for either fighter, according to Frank Warren, as the first Saudi boxing show of 2025 starts to take shape.
Dubois dropped Joshua four times en route to a fifth-round victory in September, retaining the IBF heavyweight title at Wembley Stadium.
A rematch clause was revealed after the fight, allowing “AJ” a second shot at his fellow Briton, but there are other options on the table for Dubois, his promoter has said.
“He’ll fight next year – early next year – and we are just looking at a few matches,” Warren told Talksport on Tuesday (15 October). “I hope we get it done by next week, who he’ll be facing, but he’s going to defend his title.
“And we’ll see who it’s going to be. It may be AJ, it may not. It depends, but whatever happens, he’ll be out. He’ll be facing someone, that’s for sure, and capitalising on what he did in that fight.
“I mean, I have no problem with that [Joshua rematch]. I’d have that fight all day long for him.”
Saudi adviser Turki Al-Sheikh recently announced that the nation’s first event of 2025 will take place in February. And Warren is keen to see Dubois, 27, compete on that card.
“That’s what I would like to see,” he said. “That’s where I’d like to see him fighting. Well, we’ll see what happens.”
The next Saudi event will take place on 21 December, as Tyson Fury seeks revenge against Oleksandr Usyk, seven months after losing to the Ukrainian in Riyadh.
Usyk beat Fury on points to become undisputed heavyweight champion, but the unbeaten southpaw later vacated the IBF belt, which now belongs to Dubois.
Dubois’s victory over Joshua, who turned 35 on Tuesday, marked “Dynamite”’s first defence of the gold.
