"Originally, the plan for AJ was for him to fight in March and then fight Tyson Fury in August. That's not happening," Hearn told the media on Thursday, per ESPN. "He's not fighting Tyson Fury next. He's going to come back, I believe, late summer, but physically he's not yet in a position to return to camp.

"I'm planning, but he's just resting and preparing. So, for me, I'm looking at options to get him back in the ring in July time, but we'll only know if that's a real possibility when he returns to camp, which will hopefully be in the next couple of weeks or a month.

"I think every fight is dangerous, coming off what he's come off. We're open to the Fury fight but probably more likely [near the] end of the year, maybe early 2027."

Joshua (29-4, 26 KO) last fought on December 19, knocking out Jake Paul in six rounds.

On December 29, Joshua was involved in a crash in Lagos that killed two of his closest confidants, strength and conditioning coach Sina Ghami and trainer Latif Adoyele. Joshua and the driver survived.

As Joshua gets his life and career back on track, Fury is doing the same by returning from a fifth retirement on April 11 against Arslanbek Makhmudov.

Fury said during a press conference this week that Joshua’s tragedy was a “turning point” that motivated him to fight again at the age of 37.

“I suppose the biggest turning point in this comeback, for me, was a tragedy that happened with Anthony Joshua,” said Fury. “I was on holiday with my family in Thailand for Christmas just to get away from the rain, and then I heard all that bad news that's gone on and I thought, you know what? Life is very, very short and very precious and very fragile, and anything could happen at any given moment, and you should never put things off until tomorrow or next year or next week, because tomorrow is not promised to nobody.”