Boxing superstar Anthony Joshua hasn’t climbed into the ring for more than a year. The former heavyweight world champion wants to make his comeback at the beginning of 2026. There is talk of a “Rumble in the Jungle II” in Africa.
It is still not official when and against whom Anthony Joshua will make his boxing comeback.
So far, promoter Eddie Hearn has only said that his protégé wants to fight again at the beginning of next year.
As “Sky Sports” reports, Joshua could be offered a very special location for his comeback: Nigeria, the country of his parents.
Video: Agit Kabayel shows RTL his WBC gold
Promoter Ezekiel Adamu recently organized an event in the Nigerian city of Lagos together with British boxing legend Amir Khan (at which German heavyweight hope Emanuel Odiase also scored a victory). A test run for a mega fight night with AJ?
“It was an incredible success,” said Adamu in an interview with “Sky Sports”. The boxing event was received “greatly” by the people of Nigeria and the government there.
Now Adamu wants to convince superstar Joshua to fight in the country of his roots. “We had an initial conversation and will continue,” he announced. “We’re looking at Q1 next year. We all know AJ has always said he wants to fight in Africa before his career is over. We think Nigeria would be the best story.”
Bakole sounds: I’m going to knock Joshua out
A possible opponent is already being discussed. “I would accept the fight immediately,” said the Congolese Martin Bakole on “Sky Sports”. “We are both African fighters and now we see boxing coming back to Africa.”
However, Joshua did not want to fight him, claimed the Brit’s former sparring partner, who lives in Scotland. “He knows what happened in sparring. If we meet in the ring, I’ll knock him out without a doubt. I’ll even knock him out in Nigeria, in front of his home crowd. That’s the fight to make. We have to do it for Africa. It’ll be the Rumble in the Jungle II,” said Bakole.
Adamu confirmed that Bakole was an option, and Eddie Hearn had also previously named the 1.98 colossus as Joshua’s possible comeback opponent.
In 1974, boxing icons Muhammad Ali and George Foremann met at the Rumble in the Jungle in Kinshasa/Zaire (now DR Congo). The duel is considered the greatest boxing match in history and Ali’s victory one of the greatest upsets of all time.