The Lion, 36, beat The White Rhino, 33, by unanimous decision in their Shefield brawl last Saturday (10.11.25), and Makhmudov’s promoter Camille Estephan has now revealed he is targeting AJ, 35, for his next bout.

Speaking with Sky Sports about a potential Joshua fight, he said: “Definitely I think it would be a great fight.

“Arslanbek has shown against Allen that he has more than just nuclear power. The question remains though, can AJ handle Makhmudov's power? I think a huge number of fans would like to find out.”

Following his victory over Allen, Makhmudov called out Joshua - who has been absent from the ring since his last fight with Daniel Dubois, 28, in September 2024.

He said: “Anthony Joshua, where are you? I'm coming for you.

“I've already spoken with him and he gave me his word that he will fight me next year. I'm ready.”

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn recently said he had a list of roughly 10 boxers that he would be interested in seeing AJ share the ring with next - including Tony Yoka, Martin Bakole and Efe Ajagba.

Speaking with iFK TV, he said of 33-year-old Yoka: “The name comes up all the time, I don't know where it came from, but in a pool of 10 fighters, yes, he is in that pool.

“The first fight back is not going to be [Tyson] Fury, [Oleksandr] Usyk, [Daniel] Dubois, [Joseph] Parker, or Moses [Itauma].

“It's going to be a proper fight, but it is not going to be against the top five. It might not even be against someone in the top seven or eight.

“But it all depends on the plan. When you are planning something like this, you aren't just going ‘Oh, who is he fighting first?’

“We're planning out probably the next three fights, and who we fight in fight three may even determine what we do in fights one and two.”