Ahead of Anthony Joshua’s fight this weekend with Francis Ngannou, Carl Froch has one big worry for ‘AJ’ and has warned ‘this is a bad move.’
Froch has had a rather jaded view of Joshua ever since Joshua criticised his former coach Rob McCracken, the same man that guided Froch throughout much of his career and to multiple super-middleweight world titles.
After three solid wins last year against Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin in December, Joshua now returns to Saudi Arabia this Friday night to take on the challenge of Ngannou, the former UFC heavyweight champion turned boxing novice.
In Ngannou’s first professional bout he did well against Tyson Fury and even scored a knockdown. He lost on points after 10 rounds but was given a WBC ranking and now gets his shot at Joshua.
Ahead of the fight, Froch has been speaking on his own YouTube channel Froch on Fighting.
“If he hits AJ on the chin like [he did against Fury], AJ gets caught, he stays hurt, he takes ages to recover. He blew a gasket against Pulev. He was boxing, moving doing well then he needed four or five rounds off before he got the job done.
“He won’t have that time with Ngannou. Ngannou will put him on it, it’s only 10 round fight. It’s kind of like an exhibition, which is why it’s dangerous for AJ. He needs to go in there and get it won and earn his money, which is the only reason he’s doing it.
“AJ is trying to get this undisputed fight with the winner of Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, but that’s still going to be there for him, so this is potentially a real bad move if it goes wrong for him, as it could be the end of his career.”
It is thought that whoever comes through this fight stands a good chance of getting a shot at the newly-crowned undisputed heavyweight king once that has been settled on May 18 between Usyk and Fury.