AJ, 35, has been out of action for the past 12 months after sustaining an elbow injury in his last fight with Daniel Dubois, 28, and Hearn has revealed there are roughly 10 fighters that Joshua could next share the ring with once he has fully recovered.
Speaking with iFL TV, the Matchroom Boxing promoter, 46, said of 33-year-old Yoka: “The name comes up all the time, I don't know where it came from, but in a pool of 10 fighters, yes, he is in that pool.
“The first fight back is not going to be [Tyson] Fury, [Oleksandr] Usyk, [Daniel] Dubois, [Joseph] Parker, or Moses [Itauma].
“It's going to be a proper fight, but it is not going to be against the top five. It might not even be against someone in the top seven or eight.
“But it all depends on the plan. When you are planning something like this, you aren't just going ‘Oh, who is he fighting first?’
“We're planning out probably the next three fights, and who we fight in fight three may even determine what we do in fights one and two.”
Hearn then revealed he would agree to a fight with Bakole, 32, who has repeatedly called out Joshua for a bout.
He continued: “Bakole, I would say yes. That is not an easy fight. You have Ajagba as well, Nigerian, another great fight.
“Martin Bakole, forget people taking the micky out of him and coming in overweight, that is a tough fight, Martin Bakole is a good fighter.
“You just have to ask yourself, having been out of the ring for 15 months or so, is that the right fight to come back to? Maybe [it is].”
Despite insisting Joshua’s next fight wouldn’t be with Fury, 37, the promoter said he was hoping a match with The Gypsy King would happen in the future - particularly after AJ’s recent social media attacks on the former heavyweight champion.
He told Sky Sports: “Now he's back in training and my conversations over the last couple of weeks have been very positive with him about locking in a date and returning.
“Then I saw that post [directed at Fury]. When AJ posts something like that, you know that he's on.
“He's like 'let's go, I'm back' and that's where we're up to. So the next move is to lock in that fight in early 2026 and then we want Tyson Fury.”
