5 Possible Tune-ups For Anthony Joshua Before Tyson Fury fight

Anthony Joshua is on the comeback trail. A megafight with Tyson Fury has been touted for November – however, before then, AJ will most likely have a tune-up fight in July.

This poses a question – who should Joshua fight before his clash with Fury? We’ve picked out five candidates who could fill this role.

AJ’s fight with Jake Paul back in December was little more than a novelty parade – it didn’t really tell us anything about where Joshua is as a fighter right now.

We’ve looked at a range of factors for this. Ideally, it should be someone who is recognisable to the public – at the same time, you don’t want risk derailing the Fury fight by picking an opponent who poses too much of a threat. Who would you pick for Joshua’s return bout?

David Adeleye

Someone like David Adeleye could be a good choice. He is well known to UK audiences, having knocked out the likes of Jeamie TKV and Solomon Dacres – with that being said, AJ would enter as the clear favourite if this fight was to be made.

So long as Joshua doesn’t overcommit on any of his punches, Adeleye shouldn’t be able to do too much damage. Adeleye’s most dangerous punch is the left hook, but AJ won’t be in much danger of getting caught if he can keep ‘Big D’ behind his disciplined straight shots.

Furthermore, in his last fight against Filip Hrgovic, we saw how tough Adeleye can be. Joshua needs rounds – Adeleye, with his formidable chin and lion-esque heart, should be able to give them to him.

Martin Bakole

A fight with Martin Bakole would look like a risky proposition at first glance – however, the more you analyse it, the more it looks like a nice, easy return bout for Joshua.

Don’t get us wrong – Bakole is a live opponent and can knock any fighter in the world out if he catches them. In this case, however, the word ‘if’ is doing a fair amount of heavy lifting in that previous sentence. Bakole is glacially slow, both in his hands and his feet – assuming AJ doesn’t come in too heavy, he should be able to box circles around the Scottish-Congolese man.

In his last fight, Bakole struggled against Efe Ajagba and laboured to a draw. Efe Ajagba, in many ways, is a similar fighter to Joshua – with this in mind, AJ should be able to build upon Ajagba’s performance and take home a comfortable decision win.

Hughie Fury

This one just seems to make sense. If you’re going to fight ‘The Gypsy King’ in the not-too-distant future, who better to test yourself on than a cousin of his in Hughie Fury? A defensively responsible and tricky fighter, AJ should be able bank some valuable rounds against the former British champion.

A low output, safety-first fighter, there is little risk of Hughie doing any serious damage to Joshua – likewise, as an experienced pugilist, he should have more than enough about him to keep AJ honest.

On top of this, Hughie has never been knocked out, despite having faced the likes of Joseph Parker, Kubrat Pulev and Alexander Povetkin. AJ could make a real statement by finishing him off within the distance.

Nelson Hysa

Nelson Hysa certainly isn’t a big name outside of Albania, but his record of 24-0 with 22 knockouts will certainly catch the public’s eye. In many ways, he poses a similar challenge to AJ that Makmuhdov did to Fury – Hysa is a physically imposing power puncher with limited technique and a somewhat padded record.

Hysa can definitely hurt Joshua if he catches him, but he has never faced anyone anywhere near the level of the former Olympic gold medalist. Defensively, he is often wide open to straight shots, something we’d expect AJ to take full advantage of.

The 41-year-old doesn’t have much in the way of name recognition, but his natural power injects an element of danger into a potential bout with Joshua – it will be necessary to market this accordingly in order to generate audience interest.

Guido Vianello

Out of all of our picks, we feel this one makes the most sense. Fury just beat Makhmudov by decision – so why not fight someone who stopped him within the distance? In the never-ending world of boxing Top Trumps, AJ will not find a more suitable opponent than Guido Vianello.

Vianello is no slouch, but a highly-skilled operator such as Joshua should be able to deal with him. While he’s a smart counterpuncher with good hand speed, AJ is far too technically refined to give him the openings that he looks for.

The Italian was comfortably outpointed by Richard Torrez Jr in 2025, having previously lost to Efe Ajagba and Jonathan Rice. Furthermore, Vianello also has a habit of rushing in with his hands down – AJ will punish him harshly if he does this too often.