Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn feels Anthony Joshua still holds the heavyweight deck's strongest hand despite folding during his last fight in devastating fashion.

The former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua is coming off a fifth-round knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September. All signs pointed toward Joshua finally facing Tyson Fury this year until The Gypsy King abruptly retired last month.

Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs), rated No. 7 by The Ring, will now have to patiently wait and see how the heavyweight division unfolds over the next few months before he makes his return.

“We're well placed. To the disappointment of many people, AJ is still the money of the heavyweight division,” Hearn said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “And we can really fight anyone we want. But AJ will do what he's always done in his career, which is to continue to take the biggest challenges.”

Joshua reportedly made $60 million last year fighting Dubois and Francis Ngannou on Riyadh Season shows.

“We haven't had one conversation yet around Anthony's next fight,” said Hearn. “These conversations will begin over the next week in Riyadh [around the February 22 show headlined by Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol]. We don't rule anybody out. When you talk about Tyson Fury, he would need to come out of retirement in the next couple of weeks to fight AJ next. AJ is looking to fight twice this year, the first one in the summer, and again by the end of the year.

If Fury doesn't come out of retirement soon, that fight is not going to happen next. Is it Martin Bakole? Is it Deontay Wilder? Is it the winner of Dubois-Joseph Parker [on February 22]? Is it the winner of Zhilei Zhang-Agit Kabayel [on Feb. 22]? It honestly can be anyone. He wants to fight Dubois. They always want revenge after defeat."

Joshua, 35, realizes that he’s up against the clock.

"I should have won [against Dubois] but I didn't and I am going to go again,” Joshua said last month. “[It] makes me hungry, makes me want to work harder. Time is of the essence, time is limited, so I just want to put in more work.”