Joshua Could Face Wardley – Hearn Confirms and Highlights Obstacles

The head of Matchroom Boxing, Eddie Hearn, stated that his client Anthony Joshua could potentially face the new WBO Heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley, should such an offer materialize.

“You’d like to have a fight that prepares you for Tyson Fury, but not one that could become a ‘banana skin.’ Though I think every fight in the heavyweight division is a risk of slipping.

Fabio Wardley is a different plan altogether. The world heavyweight title is a bigger priority for AJ than Tyson Fury. AJ would love to win a world heavyweight title again.

Look, if they offer us a fight with Fabio Wardley and then a fight with Tyson Fury, I think AJ would have absolutely no problems taking that as soon as possible.

But obviously, the scale of the Fury fight is what interests people and His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh]. I don’t believe His Excellency will come and offer us a Wardley fight. If he does, and we could fight for the world heavyweight championship—definitely. But I think he’ll say: ‘This is the guy we want for February or March, or whenever it will be. And then you fight Tyson Fury’,” Hearn said.

Joshua (29-4, 26 KOs) knocked out Jake Paul in the 6th round of his previous fight on December 19, breaking his opponent's jaw in two places. Fabio Wardley was recently elevated to full WBO champion status after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt in November 2025.