"I had a great chat with him yesterday, and he's like, 'Look, I feel great. Even after getting beat, I feel great,'" Hearn told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (full interview airs tonight on FS1).

Of course, 34-year-old Joshua was shocked by Daniel Dubois over the weekend, losing by 5th round knockout, despite being a heavy favorite in front of a packed house at Wembley.

Hearn says it'd be easier to explain the weekend's result if training camp sucked, but that's not the case. Joshua looked sharp and was prepared.

"I'd love to actually sit here now and say, 'Oh, camp was terrible. He was injured. He was ill. He didn't look very good.' He looked great. You know, his sparring was fantastic. He's been on this great run where he's looked in tremendous form and he didn't perform on the night. So we have to go away and the team has to go away and ask why."

Eddie even says Anthony, an Olympic gold medalist and two-time unified world heavyweight champion, told him to speak up when he feels it's time he hangs up the gloves ... but Hearn doesn't believe we're at that point. Not at all.

"[AJ] did also say to me, 'Look, I know I'm a fighter. So whenever you feel as well and my team feel we should have that conversation, make sure you let me know.' And I said, 'Look, honestly, I don't think that's a conversation we should be having yet.'"

The plan is to fight. So, who could the opponent be? Eddie threw out a few names.

A rematch with Dubios, a Tyson Fury megafight ... both are on the table.

FYI, Fury has other business to attend to first. He's looking to avenge his loss to Oleksandr Usyk ... when the big men fight on December 21 in Riyadh.

As for Joshua ... we asked Hearn when we'll see him next.