Anthony Joshua rival reveals potential location for heavyweight fight
Tony Yoka has revealed he could fight Anthony Joshua in Ghana if he beats Jake Paul to the punch and lands a clash with the former heavyweight world champion.
Joshua has not fought since her was knocked out by Daniel Dubois at Wembley last September and recently underwent surgery on his elbow. He is expected to return to the ring before the end of the year with YouTuber Paul the frontrunner following talks between the respective teams in New York.
But Yoka is also in the frame for a fight with Joshua, with the Brit recently claiming he will take on his fellow Olympic champion. And the Frenchman has now revealed Joshua's team have gone to Ghana to scout out potential venues for the showdown.
"His team has just left for Ghana to see what the sports facilities are like," Yoka told L'Equipe. "There is a possibility that the fight will take place in Africa. A lot of people are talking about it, and it could revive boxing in France. If it comes to fruition, it will indeed generate enormous interest."
But Joshua's promoter Hearn believes Paul is more likely to land the bout. He told Sky Sports News: "This bizarre world that we live in, I think Jake Paul is absolutely the front-runner to fight Anthony Joshua next. I'm here in New York for a meeting about that fight. There's open dialogue between myself and Nakisa [Bidarian, Paul's manager] and MVP [Most Valuable Promotions].
"The boxing world are saying, 'please AJ, go in and evaporate this young man from the boxing world so we can all get on as normal'. You got Jake Paul fans thinking, bizarrely, they can beat Anthony Joshua, and the most bizarre thing out of everything is that Jake Paul genuinely believes he will beat Anthony Joshua.
"I think it's the only reason we're going to see this fight because Jake Paul and his merry men are telling him that AJ's punch resistance is gone, 'this is a great time to fight him'. "I'm telling you, be careful for what you wish for because this is the most dangerous thing. This is like tuning in to watch [magician] David Blaine.
"You know when he's in a box and you're wondering whether he's going to get out in time, I've told Nakisa, this ain't David Blaine. This is going in with one of the fiercest punchers of our generation and if you go in there thinking you're going to win, that's even more dangerous.
"I know commercially this fight breaks all kinds of records and I don't even know what's going on to know that we're sitting there negotiating this fight, but I truly believe you're going to see it at the beginning of 2026. For AJ, he says to me, 'you want me to go and knock Jake Paul out? No problem'. That's where we sit."
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