ANTHONY JOSHUA is targeting a comeback fight against Dillian Whyte in "January or February", promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed.
The British former champion has fought Whyte before, defeating him at London's O2 Arena in December 2015.
Joshua, 33, was offered the dangling carrot of a December 3 shot at Tyson Fury – but has now moved on to other targets.
Asked about AJ's situation on the DAZN Boxing Show, Hearn said: "Probably January or February is where we’re looking at.
"In terms of names, talking to him the other day, he wants to fight Dillian Whyte, really.
"Dillian Whyte fights on November 26 against [Jermaine] Franklin, who is talking a tremendous game, and we’ll see how that plays out.
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"I think Dillian Whyte is the frontrunner [for Joshua] if he comes through.
"Otto Wallin is a guy that has reached out numerous times. That’s a good fight for him as well.
"Then there’s the [Deontay] Wilder situation. I’m not saying that’s going to be the fight for January or February, but it’s definitely a fight that he’s looking at.
"The feeling for AJ is the value of – and by the way, none of them are easy fights – a tune-up is sometimes they’re as dangerous as each other.
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"I don’t think he wants to start dropping out of the top 15 and top 10 of the governing bodies and just looking for an easy touch.
"I think he wants a real fight, and those are all real fights that you could see."
Asked how he feels about the fight with Fury falling through, Hearn added: "I’m not happy it didn’t happen because I got most of the blame.
"It probably wasn’t the right time. But once he’d taken the bait, once he had it in his mind that it was the fight he wanted, that was it. The decision was made."
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Whyte's Wembley Arena bout with Franklin next month will mark his first return to the ring since being beaten by Fury in April.
Joshua, meanwhile, will next lace up his gloves looking to move on from his pair of defeats to Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk.
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