\n<\/p>\n
Joshua’s return to the summit of the heavyweight scene was halted by Dubois at Wembley last September as he suffered the fourth defeat of his career and second via stoppage.<\/p>\n
He was expected to fight Dubois again, but opted out of talks for a rematch and Dubois will face Joseph Parker on 22 February instead.<\/p>\n
Before Tyson Fury’s shock retirement<\/a> announcement last month, anticipation had been building the Gypsy King might face Joshua.<\/p>\n But while that fight seems unlikely again, Hearn says Fury remains at the top of Joshua’s wishlist.<\/p>\n “It’s always been the two \u2013 Tyson Fury \u2013 who is retired at the moment, we’ll see how long that lasts, and the winner of Dubois-Parker,” Hearn said of Joshua’s ideal next opponent.<\/p>\n Joshua has history with both Dubois and Parker having stripped Parker of his WBO title in their 2018 unification fight.<\/p>\n Hearn is not confident Dubois will retain his IBF title, with Parker on a five-fight winning streak, including wins over Wilder<\/a> and Zhilei Zhang.<\/p>\n “The first four, five rounds of that fight will be so important,” Hearn said of Dubois-Parker.<\/p>\n “If Parker can get through those rounds, you’ve got to put question marks back in Dubois’ head because right now I think he thinks he’s invincible.<\/p>\n “He’s buying into the hype. Which might be good for him. Dubois is a handful.<\/p>\n “I think he’s beatable and I think Parker is the guy to do it. Right now, a confident Daniel Dubois is a dangerous man.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n