Carl Froch has pinpointed the moment Anthony Joshua’s mentality changed and “a piece of his soul was destroyed.”
Pundits have asked questions over Joshua’s stomach for battle that have lingered for the past couple of years, with most of his opinion that he did not look his old aggressive self in consecutive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk.
Whilst appearing on Up Front With Simon Jordan, Froch stated the he believes the problems all started for Joshua when he was famously stopped by Andy Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden.
“Since he [Joshua] lost to Ruiz, I’ve said it before, I think a piece of his soul was destroyed – whatever that means, he took his soul.
The belief, the desire and that innate instinct to stand in front of your opponent and fight when it gets hard and exchange leather.
You’ve got to be in there trying to do some serious damage and I don’t know if he can get that back now.”
Joshua’s comeback performance against Jermaine Franklin in April posed more questions than answers, and many seem to agree with ‘The Cobra’s assessment that he has still not fully exorcised the demons of his shock KO defeat to Ruiz back in 2019
Froch has been quoted in the past as saying he thinks Joshua should even consider stepping away from the sport, however, with a blockbuster fight with Deontay Wilder on the horizon for the end of this year, it is unlikely Joshua will heed that particular bit of advice just yet.
Skill Challenge Promotions intend to stage Joshua vs Wilder on the same card as Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia, in what would be one of the biggest nights in the history of boxing.
It remains unclear whether either man will have a fight in the interim however, with the Middle Eastern investors said not to be particularly keen on that idea.