Eddie Hearn, promoter for former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua, believes the heavyweight landscape is finally picking back up in 2023.

After several of the top heavyweights became inactive in the first half of the year, several key fights have been announced for the coming months - including the Joshua vs. Dillian Whyte rematch, Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois and the Zhilei Zhang vs. Joe Joyce rematch.

Deontay Wilder is still attempting to finalize a fight with Andy Ruiz, while Tyson Fury is expected to announce his next defense in the coming days.

Should Joshua and Wilder both win their upcoming assignments, there is talking of them colliding on a December date in Saudi Arabia.

Hearn is not listening to the critics who believe the top heavyweights are avoiding risky fights.

He explains that Joshua, for example, is risking a major payday with Wilder by accepting a rematch with Whyte on August 12.

“We live in a world of criticism, don’t we? If you listened to Twitter you’d never really want to get out of bed in the morning,” Hearn told Talk Sport

“When you look at AJ’s CV, I don’t see the criticism. I think he’s always been in those big fights, and he is an occasion. He’s going to make an absolute fortune to fight Deontay Wilder, but he wants to risk it all against Dillian Whyte because he loves the excitement, he loves the thrill.

“Even Oleksandr Usyk is facing Daniel Dubois before he maybe fights Tyson Fury. So, I think you’ve got a couple of good fights there for the heavyweight landscape. Tyson Fury is Tyson Fury, he’s going to do his own thing. We are in the business of Anthony Joshua, he’s got a huge fight on August 12, and if he wins that he’s got Deontay Wilder – what a six months that would be for him.”