Anthony Joshua told to retire if he loses to Jermaine Franklin
- Matty Briggs
- 27 March 2023
Anthony Joshua returns for his first fight of 2023 on Saturday in a make-or-break clash.
Anthony Joshua has been told he should retire if he loses to Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena on Saturday night.
Joshua, 33, is looking to rebuild his reputation in the heavyweight division after back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk.
He will come up against once-beaten American fighter Franklin, who was last seen losing a majority decision to Dillian Whyte at Wembley Arena in November.
Franklin, 29, who says he will save his trash-talking for the rin, is the
8/1 outsider in a contest that is a must-win for two-time former world champion Joshua.
If the unthinkable happens, though, and
Joshua is beaten for a fourth time in his career, Sky Sports analyst and former world cruiserweight champion Jonny Nelson thinks AJ should retire.
"I'd expect Anthony Joshua to get it done. But Jermaine Franklin is 29 years old, (has had) 22 fights, won 21, stopped 14 of his opponents and in his last fight against Dillian Whyte people say he should have won. But that's questionable," Nelson told Sky Sports.
"My big question is this: Anthony Joshua, after losing two fights on the bounce, has had to relook at his confidence to think 'who am I, do I belong here, do I want this?'
"For Anthony Joshua that's everything. Because he's had to go through a bit of turmoil, mentally, emotionally and come to terms with the fact that he's no longer the best fighter, officially, in the world. He's got to get in the queue again like everybody else.
"When fighters are in a hard, tough fight, that will tell you how hungry they are. How much do they really want it? For Anthony Joshua when it comes to boxing Jermaine Franklin, he needs to be dominant, he needs to be smart, he needs to be sharp and he needs to work on that self-confidence. Because he has the ability. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been a world champion twice. So he has the ability.
'It's a hard mountain to climb'
"If Anthony Joshua loses, he jacks it in. If he doesn't jack it, he should jack it. Because it's a hard mountain to climb. Especially when you've had the success and the heights that he's had. So he can't afford to lose. That's a must. Then from that, it's confidence building.
"We'll see if he really thinks 'you know what, I can eventually become world champion again, I'll fix what I got wrong'. Because he's only been boxing for 10 or 11 years as a professional fighter. So if he thinks he can fix what he thinks he got wrong in regards to why he's not world champion, then there's a reason to stick around and still chase the guys that are there, one of them has beaten him twice."
