Former cruiserweight champion, Johnny Nelson, has weighed in on Anthony Joshua’s current form and his chances of regaining his heavyweight titles.
Joshua has come in for criticism of late from former British champions, with Carl Froch saying the 33-year-old will leave the sport with ‘no real legacy’ and will be remembered for ‘losing to a fat Mexican kid in Andy Ruiz’.
And now Nelson, who was appearing on Simon Jordan’s ‘Up Front’ podcast, agreed with the outspoken radio personality’s view that Anthony Joshua is ‘done’.
“I do now [think he’s done] and I don’t like saying it because I like AJ and people will see that and say ‘he’s out of order’.
When I’m asked about AJ I give an honest answer but the thing is time tells it’s own story. I was asked when he boxed Usyk the last time when I was out in Saudi, ‘what do you think will happen if he loses?’ and I said ‘if Anthony Joshua loses, he’ll walk away’.
I said that because the problem is he’s not going to be able to handle not being a world champion and now you’re seeing the breakdown. At one point he was boxing in three months time, now he’s boxing in December. Remember it’s the first time he’s had such a backlash from a fight that he’s won [against Jermaine Franklin].”
Nelson says Joshua is still making novice mistakes for a man that that’s experienced everything in the ring.
“The reason why I say it now [he’s done] is because Anthony Joshua has been through every experience going, he’s a 33-year-old man. He’s not a boy turning into a man, he’s a man and he’s still making boyish mistakes. He’s a former two time heavyweight champion of the world but he’s still making these rookie mistakes now at 33-years-old.”
Joshua had looked set to take on Deontay Wilder this December, with Saudi Arabia planning a huge night of heavyweight boxing that would see ‘AJ’ vs Wilder and Tyson Fury face Oleksandr Usyk on the same night.
However, in and unexpected turn of events, Fury has revealed a ‘draft contract’ has been sent to Joshua’s team for a proposed British blockbuster at Wembley in September.