LONDON — Anthony Joshua is set to sit out the rest of 2025 before a comeback fight against a "top 20" opponent in late January.

That is the roadmap laid out to The Ring by Joshua’s long-time promoter Eddie Hearn after trying and failing to secure a lucrative novelty fight with Jake Paul.

Instead, the Youtuber-turned-boxer has agreed to face three-division world champion Gervonta Davis, a lightweight who is seven divisions smaller, in November leaving Joshua short of options for the final quarter of 2025.

Joshua has been out of the ring for nearly a year since he was knocked out by Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium. He has spent time in Africa and also had elbow surgery but seemed close to agreeing to a money-spinning Paul showdown.

Now, in lieu of that, it seems certain that the 35-year-old two-time heavyweight champion will spend some more time on the sidelines before kicking off the final chapter of his career in 2026.

Hearn made no secret that given the length of Joshua’s absence, his next outing will represent something of a warmup before he goes all out in the summer with an all-British superfight with currently retired Tyson Fury still the promoter’s target.

He told The Ring: “Without Jake Paul, I would say Joshua will probably fight in January, if not very early February. It’s September now, he’s only just getting back into training so I think it’s quite unlikely that December will be the date.

"The next fight for AJ is the comeback. He’s going to be coming back, getting the cobwebs off and getting himself some momentum. ... Hopefully that will be Tyson Fury, but if it’s not it will be someone in the top five.

“He will be gambling so the next one is a warmup, is how I see it. He understands the process and it's not about the money, it's about preparing yourself for the big fight and to win the big fight.”

On a likely opponent, Hearn added: “It's not going to be some geezer who lost for the Southern Area title. He's still going to be fighting someone in the top 20 in the world and they're all dangerous.

“But he fully understands what he wants and needs after this time out and I think Fury will be the same. I think Fury will want a comeback fight before AJ, too.”

Hearn also said that Joshua might yet fight Paul in 2026 after positive talks with MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian in the wake of the arranged Davis clash. However, the Matchroom boss did explain that Paul losing badly to 5-foot-5 Davis in the exhibition might damage those chances beyond repair.

“I had a long call with Nakisa,” Hearn said. “They want to do the AJ fight after Gervonta.

“I explained to Nakisa that if Jake Paul gets chinned by Gervonta Davis we can’t fight you, mate. I know it’s an exhibition so that probably won’t happen but we have to wait and see what happens there first.

“But when you look at the current heavyweight picture we can’t really turn down a Jake Paul fight because it’s easier than all the other warmup fights out there and it’s three times the money.”