Matchroom Sports founder Barry Hearn believes it would behoove Anthony Joshua to partake in "two or three more warmup fights" before he takes on Tyson Fury.

Former heavyweight champion Joshua is coming off a solid if unspectacular unanimous decision over Michigan’s Jermaine Franklin last Saturday night at O2 Arena in London.

Some found Joshua’s performance somewhat feeble, while others found it to be largely respectable, given he was coming off two straight consecutive losses to unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.

After the fight, Joshua called out his countryman Fury to a showdown, saying it would be an “honor” to fight for Fury’s WBC title.

The two have been in deep talks to face each other multiple times throughout the years but nothing concrete has ever materialized.

Barry Hearn, the father of Matchroom Boxing head Eddie, offered a sober analysis of Joshua’s performance, saying that it should entice Fury to want to fight Joshua immediately. At the same time, Hearn believes Joshua could benefit from having a few more tune-up fights before going up against Fury.

The elder Hearn realizes, however, that public demand and commercial demands may obligate Joshua to fight Fury sooner rather than later.

“I would think Tyson Fury would look at that performance and say, I’m ready to fight him, number one,” Hearn told iFL TV. “That takes a big obstacle away. [Joshua] has to decide if he wants to go through with a big payday or whether he wants to build and learn for longer, in which case he needs two or three more warmup fights.

“Public don’t like that. They’re crying out for [Fury-Joshua]. Is it time to take the money? It may be. But that is not a decision for me.”

“Definitely (two more warmup fights for Joshua),” Hearn continued. “But realistically we live in a commercial world, and the money that would be available in two warmup fights or even three warmup fights … in today’s world the temptations to making that fight and earning a colossal amount of money may outweigh the old fashioned common sense of people like me.”

Fury is currently without a scheduled fight after his negotiations with Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship fell through last month.