Anthony Joshua will return to full camp in eight weeks after a mysterious injury to the ‘top half of his body’ ahead of a potential return to the ring before the summer is out.

Joshua’s last appearance was his crushing fifth round knockout defeat to Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in September, which left his record at 28-4 (25).

He had openly spoken of his desire to return in order to finally secure the long-awaited Battle of Britain against Tyson Fury, only for the Gypsy King to announce his retirement from boxing a few days later.

As reported by The Ring earlier this month, Joshua’s long-term promoter Eddie Hearn believes the two-time world heavyweight champion will only fight again if it is against the returning Fury or a shot at revenge against IBF king Dubois.

But Hearn confirmed that 35-year-old AJ is currently unable to return to full training anyway because of an injury. Once that is cleared, however, he could be in a position to box in September.

When asked to specify what Joshua’s injury is, Hearn said: "Top-half of his body, there you go.

“Nothing major but it means that he's been returning to training and it's not quite ready to turn back to camp.

“He needs about another eight weeks until he can punch properly, you're looking at what, April-May till he can start camp properly so it leads us to the back end of the summer."

Joshua had been on a four-fight winning streak since his second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk back in August 2022. He also appeared to be back to his best during three consecutive inside-distance victories before he came up against Dubois, who dropped him four times at the National Stadium.