Anthony Joshua should “go online” and retire if he suffers a shock loss to Jermain Franklin on Saturday night, according to pundit Johnny Nelson.
Joshua is looking to rebuild after back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk, the latest of which came in a split decision loss in Saudi Arabia last summer, with Franklin getting in his way at the O2 Arena this weekend.
But AJ faces huge pressure to win again after his credentials came into question in his damaging losses to the Ukrainian, who took all three of his heavyweight titles from him.
Another loss to Franklin, the American who narrowly lost to Dillian Whyte in November, is unthinkable, and Nelson sees no way back for Joshua if the worst happens, saying he would face “a tough mountain to climb.”
“If Anthony Joshua loses, he connects,” he said. sky sports. ‘If he doesn’t do it, he should. Because it is a difficult mountain to climb.
Anthony Joshua (L) should retire if he loses to Jermain Franklin, says Johnny Nelson (R)
Joshua is gearing up for a decisive outing against Franklin (R) on Saturday
‘Especially when you’ve had the success and heights that he’s had. So you can’t afford to lose. That is essential. Then, from that, trust is built.
“My big question is this: Anthony Joshua, after losing two fights in a row, has had to check his confidence to think ‘who am I, do I belong here, do I want this?’ For Anthony Joshua that’s it.
“Because he’s had to go through a bit of turmoil, mentally and emotionally, and come to terms with the fact that he’s not officially the best fighter in the world anymore. He has to get back in line like everyone else.
Nelson says he expects Joshua to beat Franklin, but admits it won’t be an easy fight by any means after winning 21 of his 22 fights, 14 of which were by knockout. His only loss was against Whyte and some have suggested that he was unlucky enough to lose by majority decision.
Expectations are high for Joshua, who reigned as heavyweight champion from 2016-2021 and captivated new audiences and boxing fans with his explosive fighting style, seen in a memorable victory over Wladimir Klitschko in 2017.
Joshua faces a huge task to regain his titles after two successive losses to Oleksandr Usyk
Fans longed to see an all-British showdown between him and Tyson Fury, which came close to materializing twice in the last two years before negotiations were called off at the last minute.
Nelson says Joshua should focus on what he’s fighting for first before worrying about facing Fury or Usyk again, with the mental block of knowing there’s an opponent who has had his number twice.
We’ll see if he really thinks “you know what, eventually I can be world champion again, I’ll fix what I did wrong.” Because he’s only been boxing 10, 11 years as a professional fighter.
“So if you think you can fix what you think you got wrong about why you’re not a world champion, then there’s a reason to stick around and keep chasing the guys out there, one of them has beaten you twice.”
Joshua hinted this week that he might retire if he could rise to the top of boxing once again, calling the sport “a young man’s game.”
‘This race is like, what can it continue for? Three, four years?
Joshua reached the top of the mountain when he reigned for five years as world champion and Nelson has questioned if his hunger is still there.
‘If I was going to do another career after this, you’re talking about fighting until you’re forty and I really believe that boxing is a sport for young men.
“It takes a really solid character like Bernard Hopkins, (George) Foreman, Klitschko, Povetkin to make it to forty and all that, but I think this is a career that I want to succeed and then, you know, hopefully continue.” above.’
Speaking ahead of his fight against Franklin, Joshua said he believed it was possible to become a three-time world champion “in the next 16 months.”
“We move on,” he added. ‘I don’t really do it for that purpose anymore because I’m not in that position, but the desire? One is definitely to become a champion, which I think is possible within the next 16 months.
‘I think we have to see what happens this year with the belts. Let them race for them and then potentially let them fly and then we’ll see where the belts land. Then stay consistent, stay focused on getting better over the next 12-16 months while I’m in the title fight.