Carl Froch says one top British heavyweight has lost his desire.
The recent confirmation that Joshua is fighting Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin on December 23 means the Brit is fighting three times in a year for the first time since 2016. At 34, he is on what might be his final quest to lift a world title once more having twice done so before.
He has already knockout Robert Helenius in August and went the distance with durable American Jermaine Franklin in April, but Wallin, who pushed Tyson Fury all the way and inflicted a severe cut that almost stopped their fight back in 2019, will be his hardest test of the year so far.
Despite this, former super middleweight champion Froch has questioned Joshua’s love for the sport.
Speaking on TalkSport Boxing, the Hall of Famer claimed that ‘AJ’ no longer has the motivation and has lost the backing of the fans.
“Joshua for me has got a mountain to climb. Wallin is a good fight in that respect, so he’s not jumping straight in there with Wilder. I don’t think Anthony Joshua has got the desire or the love of the sport that he used to. He’s not got the fans backing him, he gets a lot of stick on social media and I don’t think he likes it.”
Froch didn’t like what he saw at Joshua’s most recent press conference either.
“I saw a beaten down man who was on edge. I don’t want to go into he mental health potential problems that could follow but to me, he’s a man on the edge of something. I’ve no confidence of him jumping in there with Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury or a rematch with Usyk. And that should be his aim, jumping in there and beating them. But I’m just seeing a man that looks worried.”
“He doesn’t want to run, he doesn’t want to spar the correct sparring. That tells you you have fallen out of love with the sport. When the desire goes, the running and the hard sparring stops. When you’re looking at a 50 million site fee you’re talking about generational wealth and that changes your motives.”