Anthony Joshua has confirmed plans to undergo a small surgery despite still recovering from injury since 2024.
He has been out injured since he was knocked out by Daniel Dubois in five rounds in September after being dropped multiple times.
Joshua also played down rumours of his interest in fighting Fury after reports emerged this week that both boxers could be ready to face each other.
Fury retired for the fourth time in January after he suffered a second consecutive defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
However, Joshua refused to answer questions regarding the fight while stating his desire to return to full fitness.
He said, “We’ll save that conversation for another time. I think what we’ll do for the viewers at home is go back over the years and find the same answer for the same question. Same, same, nothing changed.”
“When do you want me back, people? I’m trying to get my body right. I’ve got to have surgery on my elbow. A small surgery sometime in May. That will see me out of the gym for maybe 6-8 weeks. As soon as I’m healed, I’ll be back. I’ve got to do my rehab, really.”
“My body has been through the works, innit. If I want to be here for a long time, I just want to make sure my body is really good before I get back into the ring.
“Sooner than later. I’m still training, but I’m just kind of rebuilding. What it basically means to be good is not enough in boxing; if you want to be a world champion, you’ve got to be great.
“Throughout the last year or so, especially my last fight, I was good but not great.”
Joshua has won 28 of his 32 fights, including the Olympic super heavyweight gold at London 2012, before winning his first world title in 2016.
He also unified the WBA, IBF and WBO world heavyweight titles in 2018 and reclaimed them from Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019, before being dethroned by Oleksandr Usyk in 2021.
