According to Eddie Hearn, Anthony Joshua "lost trust" in boxing when the Tyson Fury negotiations fell through.

In December, AJ and Fury discussed the possibility of an all-British heavyweight battle. Fury established a number of public dates for the match's conclusion, but the agreement was never reached.

Instead, on December 3, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Fury will defend his WBC heavyweight crown against Derek Chisora.

The 33-year-motivation old's was reportedly affected by the promoter Hearn's inability to broker the fight between Joshua and Fury, and as a result, AJ had to recover in order to make a comeback in the first quarter of 2019.

He dispelled worries, however, that Joshua may take a year off if he couldn't defeat the 34-year-old Gypsy King.

He just kind of lost a little bit of trust in boxing because he truly wanted to face Tyson Fury, Hearn said to Boxing Social.

That's the major reason he stayed out of the ring this year. It disrupted his vibe. He was only pissed off.

"You know, we feel that Fury's bluff was truly called. What are they doing here?

"They claim to want to fight me; I now have a deadline; Chisora has one more month to complete the agreement; I was required to sign it at that time.

Thus, Joshua will likely fight in March rather than maybe towards the end of February.

After two defeats to the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, Joshua is still considering his choices for his next bout, and Hearn said that the boxer was "ready to face anybody."

The promoter made a suggestion that AJ may be ready to face Chinese boxer Zhang Zhilei in a stadium match in Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium, the site of the 2008 Olympics.

In order to capitalize on Zhang's popularity, Hearn said that he was considering the prospect of a stadium bout in China, which may see Joshua make his comeback.

Another suggestion was the victor of Dillian Whyte vs. Jermaine Franklin, a fight that will take place at London's Wembley Arena at the end of November.