Eddie Hearn insists Anthony Joshua wants to challenge Daniel Dubois to a rematch.

The Watford powerhouse fell to the fourth defeat of his professional career last month against Dubois at Wembley Stadium in front of over 98,000 spectators.

Dubois dominated and KO’d Joshua on September 21Getty

Joshua was dropped four times en route to a shock fifth-round knockout loss that has shaken up the heavyweight division.

In the immediate aftermath, Hearn insisted there was a rematch clause in Joshua’s contract.

However, Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren recently informed talkSPORT that there is no such clause in his client’s paperwork – although Queensberry and Dubois have expressed a willingness to entertain a second fight.

While Dubois and Warren spoke openly about the rematch, Joshua’s stance was less clear.

And that remained the case until Hearn told Boxing News on Tuesday afternoon: “If it is up to AJ, the rematch is 100 per cent on. He’s like, ‘Let me at him, I know I can beat him’.

“But we will talk internally as a team and advise him on what is best, I think we are leaning towards the immediate rematch and I think it is going to be difficult to convince AJ otherwise.

“Those talks began a couple of days after the fight and we will sit down with His Excellency in Riyadh next week.

“As a team we had a meeting this morning with 258 MGt (Joshua’s management), and spoke to Ben Davison last night.

“It’s up to us to feed back to AJ our thoughts and he will make the final decision and it will be very difficult for him not to try and want to beat Daniel Dubois.”

The other fight on the table for Joshua is the long-awaited all-British showdown with Tyson Fury after his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk on December 21.

Joshua and Co are ‘leaning towards’ the Dubois rematchMark Robinson/Matchroom

At the moment, Joshua’s representatives are leaning toward the Dubois rematch – and according to Hearn, that has a lot to do with the logistics of the two options.

He added: “Firstly, if you don’t take the rematch you’re in a little bit of wilderness on when you are fighting and who you are fighting.

“And I think at this stage in this career the last thing you want is uncertainty and inactivity.

“Although he downplays it, one of the big things for Anthony is to become world champion.

“There is a lot of discussion about waiting for Fury. And December 21, I’m sure it happens (the rematch with Usyk) but what if it doesn’t?

“What if there is an injury? And then it happens in April.

“Are you waiting till April and then you don’t fight until the end of next year?

“Even with December 21 you’re not going to fight the winner or loser until July, August, or September.

“And I think that inactivity at this stage in his career is not going to be good.”