Anthony Joshua has vowed to “take the heavyweight division by storm” once he has completed a year out of the ring.
The 35-year-old two-time unified world heavyweight champion has not fought since he was knocked out by Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in September.
AJ (28-4, 25 KOs), who is the Ring’s No. 5-rated heavyweight, made no secret of his desire to ensure his 33rd fight was the long-awaited battle of Britain with Tyson Fury.
But when Fury announced his surprise retirement earlier this year, it meant Joshua had to look elsewhere for opponents.
He is yet to find one but did use his time out of the gym to undergo surgery on a troublesome elbow and is now plotting his return.
There is still no announcement on a likely date or opponent, although Deontay Wilder has recently expressed his interest in securing a fight with AJ after ending his own hiatus last month.
Joshua is expected to fight again before the end of 2025 and he insists his spell of inactivity will only ensure he comes back better than ever.
At an event in London on Tuesday night, Joshua said: “Fighting is what I do, it’s my life. What I did was take a year out for the first time in my career, that’s 12-13 years as a professional. I took a year out to get my body right.
“I’m at a different stage of my career where I can look at time a bit differently, I haven’t got lots of years in front of me so I’ve got to make an executive decision on what I do next.
“So the minute I come back you know I’m coming back with a bang rather than just rolling through and going through the motions.
“I took my time out to ensure I come back fully active, fully ready to go and to take the division by storm. I’ll take whatever fights are needed, every fight is a big fight.”
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