Carl Froch believes that Anthony Joshua’s best days are behind him, as he questioned his motivation for fighting.
Following his back-to-back losses against Oleksandr Usyk, the Brit decided to regroup and start afresh. He hired the services of Derrick James in an attempt to add a new dimension to his boxing.
This played out with a measured performance against Jermaine Franklin, as he walked away with a comfortable unanimous-decision win.
However, the fact that Joshua went the distance suggested that the Brit had lost that killer instinct to stop people inside the distance.
And as a world title shot seems more elusive than ever, Froch questioned Joshua’s motives for fighting. After all, he did state during his pre-fight presser with Franklin that he was motivated by the money.
“Joshua doesn’t need to retire but I would say that AJ is past his best and on the slide. I don’t know where his motivation is now.
“But he’s not going to go down as an all-time great with the fights he’s had, losing to Ruiz and back-to-back fights with Usyk. What does he want? What’s he fighting for? He said money, but money is not motivation when you’re fighting, trust me,” Froch
With that being said, Froch has dismissed the Brit’s chances against Deontay Wilder as reports gather steam that the pair could face each other in Saudi Arabia in December.
This has been based on Joshua’s performances post his defeat to Ruiz Jr., where he changed his combination punching in favor of boxing and moving.
But that is unlikely to work against Wilder, which Froch made clear.
“AJ has been fighting gun-shy now since the Andy Ruiz fight, where he chinned him…So I can’t really confidently say AJ has a chance against Wilder, and I’m not giving him stick for the sake of it.
“I just think Wilder catches him with a shot and when he does, it’s over. It’s definitely a KO win for Wilder, it could be as early as round one,” Froch