By Declan Taylor

ANTHONY JOSHUA will open the door for back-to-back Tyson Fury fights in 2025 with a win against Daniel Dubois.

That is the prediction from his promoter Eddie Hearn who also believes that the two-time world heavyweight champion is not feeling the pressure because he has โ€˜lost the fear of losingโ€™.

London pair Joshua and Dubois meet at Wembley Stadium on September 21 with the potential of a record-breaking 96,000 crowd in attendance.

Joshua is the challenger for Duboisโ€™ IBF world heavyweight title but, having lost the belts to both Andy Ruiz and Oleksandr Usyk during the course of his career, another defeat here against the 26-year-old is unthinkable.

Hearn has suggested that AJ might only have another 18 months in the sport, but a win at Wembley will ensure not only that 2025 is the most lucrative year of his career yet but also his most high-profile one too.

Fury is set to face Usyk in their world heavyweight rematch in Riyadh on December 21 but, regardless of that result, Hearn reckons the long-awaited Battle of Britain will take place next if Joshua can win in the Saudi-sponsored card this month.

The Matchroom boss said: โ€œHow many more fights does Joshua have left in the UK? It depends if he keeps winning. If he wins on September 21st, I believe he will fight Tyson Fury, win or lose against Usyk. But Joshua will also want to fight Usyk for undisputed, thatโ€™s always been his dream.

โ€œThe great thing about September 21st is Turki [Al-Alshikh] will look around at Wembley and just go โ€˜wowโ€™. He will be dying to do another one. In an ideal world, and this is nothing Iโ€™ve discussed with him [Turki], AJ wins, Fury wins, two fights next year for undisputed – one in Riyadh, one at Wembley. But again, thatโ€™s just my hope, no indication from Turki.

โ€œYouโ€™ve seen his keenness to do shows around the world and I think heโ€™s going to love Wembley.

โ€œIf AJ gets an electric knockout then itโ€™s all eyes on Fury-Usyk and the momentum from an AJ win in style would take him into a massive 2025 which, funnily enough, could be the defining moment of his career.โ€

Given that two fights against Fury hang in the balance, there is a lot riding on a Joshua victory on September 21 but Hearn is adamant that the 34-year-old has the experience to handle it.

He added: โ€œThe vibe that I get is the fear of losing isnโ€™t really there anymore. Because of the Ruiz and Usyk defeats, because youโ€™ve experienced it before, youโ€™ve been there and know how much it hurts. We donโ€™t look at this fight and say โ€˜the pressure is on because if you lose to Dubois what could happenโ€™. We are just excited for the fight.

โ€œI think itโ€™s a really tough and dangerous fight. It will be interesting to see what Dubois does and if he can handle the pressure. I know he boxed Usyk in Poland but this is going to be a moment that is going to make his knees knock.

โ€œYou need to have not just a big set of bollocks but you have to have a really strong mind to compose yourself in these kind of moments. I think it will make him fight more erratically which again is a danger. But whatever the game plan is, I think he will struggle to adopt it. I donโ€™t think he will have a cool head which might make it a shootout. Itโ€™s a very, very dangerous fight.

โ€œBut there is no fear of losing, he takes on all challenges and this one just happens to have a world title attached to it.โ€

Joshua is on a hot streak of three straight knockouts after stopping Roberto Helenius, Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou. It is clear his link-up with new trainer Ben Davison has been a success so far and Hearn believes September 21 will provide further proof that Harlow is the right place for the London 2012 Olympic champion.

Hearn said: โ€œThere was a period when I was going in the changing rooms, particularly around the Usyk, Franklin and even Helenius fights, where I was watching him hit pads and it just was not really flowing or clicking.

โ€œThen I went in the changing rooms half an hour before the Wallin fight and I though โ€˜fuck me, Iโ€™ve never seen anything like thisโ€™. Everything that Ben was working on, you could see AJ getting everything. He had complete trust in Ben and Lee Wylie that the gameplan was absolutely perfect.

โ€œWhen he fully gets the gameplan and when itโ€™s fully drilled we think heโ€™s unbeatable. And thatโ€™s how we feel at the moment. We feel that everything we are seeing in the training camp is exactly whatโ€™s going to happen on September 21st.

โ€œWith all due respect to Dubois, he makes mistakes and heโ€™s not a difficult fighter to work out. Heโ€™s very strong, can punch and heโ€™s physically a problem. When you analyse a fighter like that itโ€™s not hard for the minds of Ben Davison and Lee Wylie to figure out the gameplan.”