Johnny Nelson has not been shy in his criticism of Anthony Joshua in recent months, despite previously being a long time admirer of the former two time heavyweight world champion.
Like many others, Nelson has called into question Joshua’s mentality for fighting, and revealed a troubling story that will do little to ease the questions that hang around that particular facet of ‘AJ’s make up.
On a recent appearance on Up Front with Simon Jordan, former cruiserweight world champion Nelson spoke of a concerning interaction between Joshua and a security guard on his ring walk to face Oleksandr Usyk.
“He was walking to the ring against Usyk, my friend was the head of security walking next to him, Joshua said to him ‘how would you fight a southpaw?’, on the way to the ring!”
“What I’m trying to say is that what he’s displaying to me is that right now a two-time heavyweight world champion is in a fight and he’s looking over at his corner man, and I’m thinking ‘what are you doing?’”
Said security guard was in fact Clifton Mitchell – an ex-pro heavyweight who retired back in 1996. It adds more sense to the story, but the main cause for concern is that there wasn’t a clear game plan or much clarity before that moment.
Whilst some observers have even called for Joshua to retire, he looks arguably set for the biggest fight of his career later this year.
Skills Challenge Entertainment are remarkably looking to stage a fight between Joshua and Deontay Wilder on the same card as an undisputed clash between Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia, in what would be one of the biggest nights in the history of the sport.
Joshua, against promoter Eddie Hearn’s wishes, is also set to have an interim fight over the summer, potentially against long time rival Dillian Whyte.