The British Boxing Board of Control has handed two-time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua a 28-day suspension from boxing. This comes just a week after his defeat to fellow Briton Daniel Dubois.

The 34-year-old hit the canvas three times before being knocked out in the fifth round at Wembley.

It is standard practice for a player to receive a 28-day suspension following a stoppage defeat. However, since Joshua has no fight scheduled during this period, the suspension will not really impact his plans.

It also seems unlikely that he will return to the ring this year.

This loss to Dubois marks the fourth defeat of Joshua’s career. In 2019, he suffered a surprising defeat against Andy Ruiz Jr, only to win their rematch six months later.

Opinions on Joshua’s future are divided among experts and former fighters. Some, like Carl Froch, suggest he should consider retirement.

However, AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn is convinced the Watford-born fighter still has a lot to offer in the sport.

In an interview with iFL TV, promoter Hearn discussed Joshua’s future fighting prospects.

He said, “If [Tyson] Fury was going to lose, maybe they were going to lose [AJ and Fury] they both say, “Okay, let’s give society one last hurrah, two gigantic fights, that’s it.”

“Or, if Fury wins, he can defend against AJ for the unified world heavyweight title, and AJ can beat him and become a three-time heavyweight champion.

“Everything is possible. Or we could have a rematch with Daniel Dubois. Or [he] he could fight someone else. Deontay Wilder.

“I don’t know, it hasn’t been discussed yet, but two guys after defeats, with challenging blows, someone has to leave the sport.

“But for me the options are a rematch with Daniel Dubois or wait and see what happens in Fury vs Usyk.”

Chris Eubank Jr admitted he had reached his career high after more than a year out of the ring, blaming the massive buffet at the iconic Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The middleweight finally returns to action on October 12 when he faces Kamil Szeremeta in Saudi Arabia on the undercard of the undisputed lightweight heavyweight clash between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. However, he says that after feasting on Sin City’s culinary delights, he had to lose more weight than ever before.

The 35-year-old Briton lives in Vegas and claims he tipped the scales last month with a weight of 190 pounds (13st 5s), more than two stone above the 160-pound middleweight limit.

This is a very straightforward weight loss to achieve for an elite athlete, but Eubank admits it’s up-to-date territory for him.

“This year I hit 190 pounds for the first time in my life. I think it could be cruiserweight,” he told former rival George Groves on his podcast. “I don’t know how I did it. It was actually pretty frosty, because in Vegas, yeah.”

Groves asked if the renowned buffet at the iconic Las Vegas casino played a role, and Eubank agreed, before revealing his favorite dishes from the buffet. “You have to get the king crab legs with melted butter. “Steak,” he joked.

Not only does the Vegas lifestyle have its perks, but it has also provided Eubank with state-of-the-art amenities and high-quality sparring partners.

The Brighton native (33-3, 24 KO) has fought just four times in the last three years. During this period, he took revenge for his loss to Liam Smith after a blockbuster fight with rival Conor Benn, which ended in failure after Benn failed an anti-doping test.

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Eubank enjoyed the opportunity to train at gyms owned by Top Rank and Floyd Mayweather to hone his craft.

He said: “It was captivating because I would get in the ring at Top Rank and Floyd’s with the middleweights and their punches would just bounce off me.

“And these are guys who fight at middleweight and I just didn’t feel anything, I was just throwing them around and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s captivating.’”

Eubank’s passivity prompted him to turn down a lucrative offer to fight unified super middleweight king Canelo Alvarez, and he says his return to fight Polish prospect Szeremeta (25-2-2) will prove whether he can still fight at an elite level.

“That’s what the fight with Szeremeta is for,” he explained. “To make sure I can still keep the weight off and be effective. At the age of 35 [I have] I’ve been out of the ring for a year, what will this weight loss look like? We’ll see.

“You don’t want to know when you’re preparing for Canelo, right? Or a large, large name you want to know before you get into this situation. So I’m excited.”

At the top of the Wasserman-promoted event at York Hall, Charlie Edwards became the novel European bantamweight champion with a clear points victory over Thomas Essomba.

Edwards was previously the WBC flyweight champion and was last seen in April when he scored a wide-open victory over Georges Ory. Essomba traveled to Italy last May and won the European belt by defeating Alessio Lorusso, then defended in his adopted Sheffield in February with a split decision against Elie Konki.

As a subplot of the fight, Sunny EdwardsCharlie’s brother, was in Essomba’s corner as his manager.

It was a silent start that the champion probably overshadowed, but Edwards rose to the occasion and while he wasn’t able to get many spotless shots, the shot found its target in the third period.

31-year-old he controlled the action with clever boxing and movement, and the Cameroonian had difficulty pinning down the challenger and was overtired.

The 36-year-old finally came to life in sixth place, landing some eye-catching left hands, and his progress continued as he enjoyed a solid seventh place finish.

Edwards (20-1, 7 KO) won in the eighth round, but Essomba (13-9-1, 4 KO) made good employ of his height, reacting well to his opponent’s attacks, and landed a robust left-hand punch in the tenth.

Both men sensed the fight was close as they began to open up in the penultimate frame, but Edwards’ work was smoother, and as the fight entered the final round, it looked like everything was on track.

Edwards did well to push Essomba away and when the final bell sounded, both men took a stance and celebrated.

The Surrey player became the novel champion with scores of 118-111, 117-111 and 116-112.

Edwards has a chance at the world title, although he has also called for a fight with former stablemate Paul Butler.

Walland destroys Martinez

Tom Welland delighted his fans when the featherweight contender defeated the usually tough Darwing Martinez in two rounds.

The combination put Martinez (8-24-2, 6 KO) ahead in the second, and he fell again shortly thereafter following a demanding left hand.

The third attack by Welland (6-0, 3 KO) once again put the Nicaraguan on the pitch, and the referee had already seen enough.

Brown attacks Dennis

Germaine Brown was the center of attention with a third-round stoppage in her super middleweight fight against Grant Dennis.

Brown (14-3, 5 KO) had Dennis (18-8, 3 KO) on board in the second with a demanding right hand and never really recovered, landing the same shot a round later and the 40-year-old rising on unsteady legs, the fight was rejected.

Germaine Brown closes the show with a weighty right hand 🧨@Ladbrokes | @SauerlandBros | #EssombaEdwards pic.twitter.com/KXftz15E76

— Wasserman Boxing (@WassermanBoxing) September 27, 2024

Undercard remaining

Joel Bartell (7-1, 4 KO) scored a cracker victory over Nikolas Dzurnak (7-8-2, 6 KO), ultimately winning by body shot in the fifth round in the middleweight bout.

Prospective lightweight Brandon Olbrechts (7-0, 2 KO) impressed, winning all six rounds over Brayan Mairena (15-47-1, 9 KO) in a lightweight fight.

Danny Boardman (2-0) defeated Yin Caicedo (10-22-4, 4 KO) 40-36, and the gala was opened by Hannah Robinson (2-0), and the newcomer in the super lightweight category scored 59-55 wins over six rounds with Laura Reoyo (2-2).

Welcomed by a clamorous reception, Hasnan Ali (0-1) had a disastrous debut, stopped in the first round by Tommy Sans (4-0, 1 KO).