Johnny Nelson has stood by his recent criticism of Anthony Joshua – and even believes ‘AJ’ will come to agree with him in time.
Former cruiserweight champion Nelson was not overawed by Joshua’s performance in his comeback fight against Jermaine Franklin in April, and has since described the former Olympic gold medalist as “done.”
Nelson appeared on an episode of Up Front with Simon Jordan last week, where he doubled down on his comments.
“He’s a former two time heavyweight champion of the world! If you’re still making these rookie mistakes now, at 33 years old. You’re a man.”
“I believe he is bus driver, ticket collector and passenger of his training camp, he says what happens and how it happens, he says when he’s training.”
“In years to come, he’ll look back and say, “Johnny, you were right there.” Because his motivation for fighting now – he’s in no man’s land.”
Although many have echoed similar sentiment to Nelson, with some observers even calling 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.
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.
If ‘AJ’ is to have an outing over the summer, a rematch with old foe Dillian Whyte is believed to be the frontrunner, although Tyson Fury’s team now want to make that fight for September.