Deontay Wilder will have the upper hand going into a fight with Anthony Joshua, according to a former stablemate of the British fighter.
Joshua defeated Robert Helenius in a seventh-round knockout on August 12, a fight that should have been a rematch with Dillian Whyte.
But after Whyte failed a drug test, Helenius got drafted in despite only fighting one week before the O2 Arena date.
Wilder had knocked Helenius out in 177 seconds, meaning Joshua had to go some to beat that time and make the exercise worthwhile. However, according to Carl Froch, AJ was disappointing.
Those were indeed not the use of the words by Froch, though, as the ex-world champion laid into AJ on his YouTube channel.
Froch stated Joshua was not ready to go toe-to-toe with the most dangerous puncher of all time.
Not ready for Deontay Wilder
“For me, it was a 5/10 performance,” pointed out Froch. “He got the job done, and he knocked out Helenius in Round seven with a decent [punch], but Helenius was exhausted by that point. That is why I thought the knockout came.
“AJ timed him nicely with a jab to the body, then brought the right hand over the top. But I don’t think [Helenius] was knocked out cold. He was exhausted.
“Once he got hit with that shot and went over, he probably thought to himself: ‘You know what? I’ve earnt my money. I’m not going to win the fight. I’m not getting paid for overtime. Let’s stay down and go home.’ Why wouldn’t he? He boxed a week earlier.”
A bad performance by Anthony Joshua
Elaborating on Joshua’s performance and the forthcoming Wilder battle in Saudi Arabia slated for 2024, Froch added: “It was poor.
“It was a weak opponent for this stage of AJ’s career when he’s now looking at fighting someone like Deontay Wilder.
“If he’s looking at fighting Deontay Wilder on the back of that performance, that performance was awful. It was terrible.
“It was such a bad performance in so many ways. But it was tentative, and it was gun shy.”
“He’s not ready for the Deontay Wilder fight. I really don’t think he is. That performance does not set him up for a big showdown with Wilder.”
Wilder will undoubtedly begin as the favorite to take Joshua out when they finally meet five years after starting negotiations.
“The Bronze Bomber” has abstained from other fights due to the prospect of facing AJ, who he’s been trying to nail down since 2018.
