Anthony Joshua lays an egg in first win since Usyk losses
Former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua laid a stinker of a fight in his first back since losing back to back fights against Oleksandr Usyk. While Joshua did take a win home on the scorecards, the performance left a lot to be desired and had many fans wondering if actually taking on Tyson Fury be a good idea for him.
Joshua came out and comfortably won the fight against Franklin. And while snapping his two fight losing streak to Oleksandr Usyk was good, Joshua looked hesitant to pull the trigger and put on yet another boring performance. All night, Joshua played it safe and didn’t go out looking for the kill against an opponent (no offense to Franklin) Joshua should have been able to put away. He called for Tyson Fury after the fight but with these types of performances, Joshua will not have much to offer.
This AJ performance STINKS and a KO wouldn't change that
— SMESH (@SmeshJitsuOnly) April 1, 2023
‼️ Anthony Joshua beats Jermaine Franklin by unanimous decision. Job done and a victorious comeback for AJ with a solid boxing display, but also a somewhat tentative performance at times that likely won't have Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder quaking in their boots.
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) April 1, 2023
Jarrell Miller blasts Anthony Joshua and calls him out after his win vs Jermaine Franklin…
[🎥 @BIGBABYMILLER] pic.twitter.com/e9SeGeXJLF
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) April 1, 2023
Andy Ruiz broke Anthony Joshua
Once upon a time, Anthony Joshua was a fun fighter, one who went out for the kill. He produced many great knockouts and looked like the best heavyweight fighter in the world.
When disaster struck against Andy Ruiz, Anthony Joshua changed. Ruiz knocked out Joshua in 2019. Since then, Joshua has become a tentative fighter hesitant to get into any sort of action.
While Joshua did get his titles back against Ruiz, the performance was reserved. That could have been a statement performance showing the world that Ruiz wasn’t the boxer that Joshua was. But in hindsight, the tentative Joshua was very apparent then.
Things seemed okay when he knocked out Kubrat Pulev in round nine. But even then, Joshua didn’t seem right until the knockout. Then the Usyk fights happened. The Ukrainian fighter shut down Joshua in two consecutive fights.
While we can attribute some of Joshua’s inactivity to Usyk being a difficult fighter to get offense off on, Joshua was still uncharacteristically inactive there too. He seemed too hesitant to pull the trigger and let Usyk head out with his belts.
Now with this performance against Franklin, we are all left wondering if the Anthony Joshua of days past is still in there. Does he still have that killer instinct that led him to finish Klitschko? Or are we in the era of the slow and painful demise of a once illustrious boxer?
One thing is for sure, if Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder want any sort of value and boost out of a fight with Anthony Joshua, it better happen sooner rather than later. Wait too long and nobody will want to tune into a fight between Fury/Wilder and a has-been Anthony Joshua.
