Johnny Nelson has responded to Carl Froch’s claims that Anthony Joshua has not been the same fighter since Andy Ruiz Jr defeated him back in 2019.
In one of the greatest heavyweight upsets in recent years, Ruiz remarkably stopped Joshua in the ninth round to take his unified world title.
Although Froch recently stated that it was at this point Joshua began to change as a fighter, Nelson told Pro Boxing Fans that he believes it may have been even earlier in his career.
“I don’t know, I think it might be before that [Ruiz 1]. I think after he beat Klitschko, maybe then.”
“Before that fight, he fought like a hungry fighter with fire in his belly.”
Although ‘AJ’ was victorious in his comeback fight against Jermaine Franklin at the 02 this past weekend, many came away from the contest with more questions than answers, mainly regarding a perceived lack of aggression from the former unified world heavyweight champion.
Joshua won a wide unanimous decision on the three ringside judges’ scorecards, but at no point looked like stopping Franklin and making the statement his backers would have hoped for.
His former foe Dillian Whyte was working as part of the DAZN broadcast team, and a rematch nw appears to be the favourite for Joshua’s next fight.
All the pre-fight talk had been about a potential summer blockbuster against Tyson Fury, but to make that reality many felt AJ needed a statement knockout against the American.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has now stated that he would prefer Joshua to have another fight under his new trainer, Derrick James, before moving on to mega fights against Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.