AJ, 36, has been recovering after an accident near Lagos that claimed the lives of two of his closest friends and team members, Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele, at the end of 2025.
The former heavyweight champion had been riding high after a knockout win over Jake Paul, 29, in a lucrative crossover bout and was targeting a return to the ring in March 2026, with a long-discussed showdown against Tyson Fury, 37, later in the year.
However, those plans were immediately shelved following the crash, which left Joshua hospitalised before he returned to the UK for the funerals of his friends.
Now, Hearn has said the focus is firmly on Joshua’s recovery, both mentally and physically - but he expects the Joshua to edge back towards full training in the coming months.
Speaking with First Round TV, the Matchroom Boxing promoter said: “Before this terrible incident we were geared up to fight in March and then fight Tyson Fury.
“Obviously, that is not happening now and I don’t know if it will ever happen right now.
“But I think in the next few weeks and months, he may start to return and just turn the dial up a little bit more and go back to training camp and see where he is at.”
Even so, Hearn stressed there are no guarantees Joshua will fight again, given the scale of the tragedy and the physical toll of the accident.
“I don’t think there are any guarantees he fights again, but at the same time I expect him to, because it is something that he loves.
“And it is something he can carry those guys with him through as well and it is something he wants to do.
“From a boxing sense, physically it wasn’t easy what he went through either. People probably don’t realise the extent of that. He has been training, but he is not ready yet and won’t be for a while to return to boxing training.”
Hearn previously described any talk of a potential fight with Fury as “irrelevant” at this stage, as Joshua needed time to recover.
Speaking with Sky Sports about AJ’s potential boxing return, the promoter said: “At this point, who knows?”
“It’s not even something to discuss publicly, and even with AJ. The key will be, if and when, Anthony chooses to return to boxing. When he does that, or if he does that, we will then start to see what a roadmap looks like.”
