David Price has expressed his concerns regarding Anthony Joshua’s career moving forward, and believes his comeback fight against Jermaine Franklin will not have done anything to improve his confidence.
Even though Joshua was victorious over Franklin at the 02 Arena earlier this month, he did not deliver the highlight reel knockout many were hoping for and his performance came under criticism from some quarters.
Speaking to ID Boxing, Price stated that, despite the fact ‘AJ’ was victorious, the fight will have done his mental state more harm than good.
“It looks like he’s lost between two different [styles] – and it’s frustrating to watch because I’ve been there myself on a lesser level.”
“It’s going to be even worse next time, because he didn’t perform half as well [against Franklin] as he did against Usyk, so how’s it going to be after this?”
“He’s like the fighter who every one once loved, but now everyone’s questioning him. It must be difficult for him to stomach that.”
“There’s a lot going on for him, and I just hope he can come through it and find a bit of the form that he once had.”
Joshua had been expected to return to action this July, however he posted on social media last week that his next bout would not be until December.
Shortly after the post came rumours of a four man heavyweight tournament in Saudi Arabia for the back end of the year, that would see Joshua take on Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury face Oleksandr Usyk, with the winners locking horns after the fact.
Promoter Eddie Hearn, who has brought two Anthony Joshua fights to Saudi already, confirmed this week that talks with representatives from the Kingdom were already underway, and that there was a desire to stage Joshua vs Wilder and Fury vs Usyk on the same night.