Tony Bellew has said he would like to see Anthony Joshua jump straight back in to a dangerous heavyweight showdown in his next fight.
AJ was knocked out in five rounds by Daniel Dubois in a stunning upset at Wembley last weekend.
Dubois demolished Joshua in quick fashionGETTY
It’s fair to say Bellew, like many, did not see this result coming, having predicted an early KO win for his friend Joshua.
Regardless, the former WBC cruiserweight world champion clearly still believes AJ can compete at the top level moving forwards.
Asked who he’d like to see Joshua return against, Bellew told AceOdds: “There are a few. I want to see him face Zhilei Zhang and see how that goes.
“I think that could have been a brilliant fight.
“There are so many fights out there. I want to obviously see him face Tyson Fury.
“Do I want to see a third fight with Oleksandr Usyk? Potentially, yes.
“But I made crazy wild statements like, ‘This is the best AJ we’ve ever seen.’ “ell it’s AJ, we’ve seen him smoke and blast out everyone.
“I’ve seen him perform absolutely brilliantly against Wladimir Klitschko. I’ve seen him perform absolutely fantastically against numerous fighters and then I’ve also seen him not perform to the best of his ability.
“The Martin Bakole fight doesn’t really tickle my fancy. I don’t think he’s anything special and he’s not great to watch.
“I don’t know to be totally honest. There’s only Fury, and Usyk that are really relevant.
Bellew and Joshua are good friendsMark Robinson/Matchroom
Zhang would be no easy task for Joshua, having beaten Joe Joyce and Deontay Wilder in the last two yearsMark Robinson/Matchroom
“The heavyweight division is going to go through a bit of a drastic change soon.
“I’m not sure it’s going to remain as exciting if I’m being totally honest.
“As I say, it’s a difficult one to call, but I’m sure we’ll all get it on and find out who’s going to come to the top of the pile soon enough.”
Regarding whether the Dubois defeat signalled the end of AJ’s prime, Bellew replied: “No, because someone like Anthony Joshua, he’s constantly learning, and he’s constantly evolving.
“He’s a guy with not that much experience. I would put Daniel Dubois in the same bracket.
“These guys have had so much success, even more so Anthony Joshua.
“So much success early on in their careers that you’re kind of fast-tracked.
“Maybe not so much Daniel, but 100 percent Anthony Joshua.
“Anthony Joshua is a victim of his own success. This is a guy who’s won an Olympic gold medal in a record number of fights with so little experience.
“He’s just had an unbelievably good career but there’s been a price to pay for that when he’s come up against vastly more experienced fighters.
“When you’re fighting the likes of Oleksandr Usyk, who’s had 300-plus fights, it’s very, very hard to find any momentum.
“He’s learned many tricks over the years, and done many different things, that you can’t gain any momentum, and when you do get momentum, he stops it, and he stifles it because his experience leads him to do them things.
“It’s just so difficult for you because you’re always playing catch-up.”
