Eddie Hearn reveals Anthony Joshua will face Dillian Whyte in “the summer” as AJ bids to return to title contention

ANTHONY JOSHUA’s trilogy fight with Dillian Whyte is set to take place in “the summer”.

The Watford warrior targeted a third showdown with his old rival following back-to-back defeats to undefeated unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.

NEWS GROUP NEWSPAPERS LTDAnthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte have twice gone to war[/caption]

REUTERSJoshua won their professional dust-up via brutal seventh-round KO[/caption]

Eddie Hearn has revealed the pair’s trilogy fight is on course for “the summer”GETTY

But promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed Brixton Body Snatcher won’t be the first fight of Joshua’s career rebuild – which is set to get underway in the spring.

The Matchroom Boxing chief said: “I think AJ against Dillian Whyte is always going to be a huge fight, and I think you’re going to see that in the summer.

“Two heavyweights that really don’t like each other. A big year for both Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.”

Joshua and Whyte, 33 and 34 respectively, own victories over one another – with the former’s coming in the professional ranks.

And settling their rivalry once and for all is high up on his wishlist, so much so he’d rather face Whyte than WBC heavyweight king Tyson Fury.

When asked who he’d prefer to fight out of the two, AJ told GQ: “It has to be Dillian Whyte. South London, North London.

“Fury’s good, but he’s a Manchester boy.

“I think Dillian has more swag in general, but he’s come up short a few times.”

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Joshua and Whyte agreed to a series decider during an impromptu meeting in London in May.

Joshua recalled the conversation by saying: “‘Bruv, can you see I’m in Black Air Forces, bruv.

“‘I’m not messing about with you, you know, bruv. I want that fight.”

He added: “No, I’m joking. Dillian’s cool, Dillian’s only messing about.

DILLIAN WHYTEAJ and Whyte agreed to throw down again during an impromptu meeting last year[/caption]

“This was just after his fight with Fury, he was just explaining to me what he had been through.

“From that picture, it looks like he’s putting me under pressure, but I’m under no pressure there.

“I’ll still smoke Dillian anyway.”

Joshua, 33, is set to return to action in March at London’s O2 Arena, although an opponent for his first outing of the year has not yet been finalised.