Anthony Joshua Tries To Equalize Muhammad Ali's Record: Becomes A Three-time Heavyweight World Champion

Anthony Joshua trains weights in gyms with the background of the legendary boxer, Muhammad Ali. (Facebook/@Anthony Joshua)

JAKARTA Anthony Joshua still has five fights left in his contract with promoter Eddie Hearn, after the match against Daniel Dubois. Joshua vs Dubois' fight will be held at Wembley Stadium, London, England on September 21, 2024.

The duel among British boxers is a race for the IBF version of the world title. The title was previously owned by Oleksandr Usyk, the true heavyweight champion. But last June, Usyk left the title so that it could be contested by Joshua and Dubois.

"I don't think we can talk about when Anthony will retire, because he's really enjoying his job right now. He's already had four games in his last contract with me, and maybe five more games will take place. Only after that, we'll talk about the continuation," Hearn, owner of Matchroom Boxing as quoted by The Sun.

Joshua, since the beginning of his career as a professional boxer in 2013, has always been under the promotion of Matchroom. Since the promotional effort was headed by the founder, Barry Hearn until now held by his son, Eddie, Joshua is still loyal.

Likewise for coach matters. At the beginning of his career, Joshua was handled by Robert McCracken who trained him since the amateurs. But in the last two fights he changed coaches, bringing in Ben Davison. The duel against Dubois will be Joshua's third match under Davison's direction.

If he wins over Dubois, then Joshua will become world heavyweight champion for the third time. The first time he became world champion was to win the IBF title from Charles Martin on April 9, 2016.

Joshua then completed his title with the WBA and IBO belts after winning TKO over Wladimir Klitschko on April 29, 2017. But his championship belt disappeared after Joshua lost to Andy Ruiz on June 1, 2019. Luckily he was able to snatch it back after winning points in the match against Ruiz on December 7, 2019.

The title then flew again after Anthony Joshua was defeated by Oleksandr Usyk with a number at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London on September 25, 2021. If he manages to beat Daniel Dubois, then Joshua will match the record of Muhammad Ali who won the world heavyweight three times.