Anthony Joshua’s return to the ring could come sooner than expected, with the heavyweight deciding to keep boxing after two of his teammates were killed in a car crash.

Joshua, 36, was also injured in the December incident, which took place in Nigeria just 10 days after “AJ” stopped influencer Jake Paul in six rounds. The tragic nature of the crash had Joshua’s fighting future up in the air, but it wasn’t long before the Briton returned to the gym. Then, his promoter Eddie Hearn was quick to suggest that a summer fight could yet lie ahead.

Hearn dropped another hint this week, taking to Instagram to share a photo of himself accompanying Joshua during a past ring walk, and attaching the word “loading”.

But who will be next for Joshua? The former two-time world champion is currently short of options at the elite level, with many key names occupied in the coming months.

On 4 April, his friend Derek Chisora will box Deontay Wilder; a week later, Tyson Fury will end his fifth retirement to face Arslanbek Makhmudov. On 9 May, Fabio Wardley defends the WBO title against Daniel Dubois, and on 23 May, unified champion Oleksandr Usyk defends his WBC belt against Rico Verhoeven – to whom Joshua was linked a few months ago – at the pyramids of Giza, no less.

Still, here’s who may be next for Joshua, depending on how things play out in the division…

Agit Kabayel

Given Hearn said something was “loading”, we’ll work on the basis that AJ’s next opponent is not going to be one of the currently-booked heavyweights, although we will come back to those as back-up options.

First there is Kabayel, the WBC mandatory challenger who is still waiting for his shot at Usyk, given the Ukrainian was granted a voluntary defence against Verhoeven. Kabayel is dangerous, as he showed with his body-shot stoppage of Zhilei Zhang in 2025, yet he was floored in that fight. He also ended the initial hype around Makhmudov with a body-shot knockout in late 2023, but these KOs highlight that Kabayel’s finishing abilities centre more on accuracy and smarts – not power.

Many would likely back Joshua to withstand the unbeaten German’s punches; it would then be a matter of whether the Briton could be the slicker man for 12 rounds, or produce a decisive shot of his own. Another question is whether Kabayel, 33, wants to risk his mandatory WBC title shot. We think he would, given Usyk this week outlined his ideal final three fights, and didn’t mention Kabayel.

Filip Hrgovic

A name to whom Joshua has been vaguely linked for some time, and a name without an opponent at the moment. Furthermore, Hrgovic is not seen as the threat he once was, after Dubois withstood his punishment to stop the Croatian in 2024, handing him his first loss. In Hrgovic’s two fights since then, he won decisions against Joe Joyce and David Adeleye but did not exactly put the division on notice. In that regard, the 33-year-old doesn’t necessarily represent the kind of risk that Hearn might want right now.

Martin Bakole

There has been talk of Joshua fighting in Africa before he retires, and a showdown with Congolese heavyweight Bakole would make sense. Efe Ajagba – who has Nigerian heritage like Joshua – was also linked to AJ for a while, but that pairing is complicated by Ajagba’s involvement with Matchroom’s rivals Zuffa Boxing. As for Bakole, he was long seen as the most-avoided boxer at heavyweight (at least, that’s how he stylised himself), but his stock has fallen since a stoppage loss to Joseph Parker and a draw with Ajagba himself. He’s one of a few fighters on this list who might have been deemed too risky for Joshua at one point, but not at present.

Guido Vianello

There were whispers last autumn that the Italian could face Joshua, with many fans asking: ‘Who?’ Vianello is another boxer who does not – on the surface – pose too great of a risk to Joshua. He is 14-3-1, and he largely tried to sell a fight with AJ on the fact that he stopped Makhmudov in 2024. However, that result was sandwiched between points losses to Efe Ajagba and Richard Torrez Jr. A match-up between Vianello, 31, and Joshua would hardly be inspiring, but it might be the sort of bout that the Briton needs.

Deontay Wilder

Now onto the options who are currently paired, but whom Joshua could fight depending on results.

Chisora vs Wilder has largely been billed as a dual-retirement fight, yet Chisora seems more at peace with that notion than his American opponent. Especially if Wilder wins, don’t be surprised if he keeps boxing. That could open the door to a long-awaited clash with AJ and, given Wilder is fighting soon, it’s not implausible that a deal is being worked out as we speak… Not that we’d bank on it, but it’s possible. We’d expect Joshua to overcome this faded, 40-year-old version of Wilder, who has suffered four losses now – including three bad KOs.

Fabio Wardley

This would surely depend on Wardley losing his title defence against Dubois, otherwise the Ipswich fighter would likely be deemed too dangerous for Joshua right now. It would also be hard to justify AJ boxing for the WBO belt next, should Wardley beat Dubois. But if Wardley loses on 9 May? He has has looked vulnerable in recent outings, needing late KOs to erase points deficits against Parker and Justis Huni, so maybe Hearn would endorse a little risk-taking. Joshua vs Wardley would still feel like a big British fight, even if the latter entered it on the back of a loss.

Tyson Fury

Like Joshua vs Wilder, the Fury bout was once a dream fight. While it is no longer that, it is still enticing. Furthermore, Joshua remains keen on it, and Fury hasn’t dismissed it entirely – although he would prefer a trilogy bout with Usyk, even if no one else wants to see it after the Ukrainian’s two points wins over Fury. The issue is: if the “Gypsy King” beats Makhmudov, he’d go into a fight against Joshua with much-greater momentum (yes, Joshua fought in December, but the Paul fight was hardly a test), unless AJ has a warm-up outing first.