Carl Froch has made some brutal comments on the career of Anthony Joshua, saying the former unified world heavyweight champion has got “no real legacy” in boxing.
Joshua’s comeback performance against Jermaine Franklin last month posed some more questions than answers, and it appears he has not fully exorcised the demons of his KO defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr back in 2019.
Speaking to Sporting Post, Froch did not hold back in his assessment and even questioned why ‘AJ’ was still in the sport.
“Joshua doesn’t need to retire but I would say that AJ is past his best and on the slide. I don’t know where his motivation is now. It can’t be money, he says it is but he’s made a fortune. So when you’ve earned so much, how much do you need?”
“AJ has had a fantastic career financially, but maybe it niggles him that he’s probably got no real legacy. He’s not in the Hall of Fame, unlike the Cobra!”
“Not to have a dig at him but you have to look at yourself as a fighter and ask, why am I in the game? Am I in the game to make a fortune? Of course I am if I can do it and be one of the lucky ones, one of the few who get out the game financially free with their health intact and he’s done that.”
“But he’s not going to go down as an all-time great with the fights he’s had, losing to Ruiz and back-to-back fights with Usyk. What’s he fighting for? He said money, but money is not motivation when you’re fighting, trust me. You don’t think about money when you walk to that ring. If you do it’s a bad attitude and you don’t perform, you perform from wanting to be world champion and wanting to perform for yourself and fans to get a legacy, to be a Hall of Famer, you have to be in love with the sport.”
With a blockbuster fight with Deontay Wilder on the horizon for the end of this year, it is unlikely Joshua will take ‘The Cobra’s comments onboard just yet.