Anthony Joshua has been told by former cruiserweight world champion Johnny Nelson that he should retire if he loses to Jermaine Franklin.
Joshua, 33, is gearing up for his UK return as he faces Jermaine Franklin at The O2 arena on Saturday. The former two-time heavyweight champion is without a win in over two years as he lost his unified heavyweight titles to Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021 and failed to win them back in their rematch last August.
'AJ' looks to put himself back on the path to world contention with a win over Franklin, but he's been told by Nelson that he should hang up his gloves with a loss to the American. "If Anthony Joshua loses, he jacks in," Nelson told Sky Sports. "If he doesn't jack in he should jack in because it's a hard mountain to climb, especially when you're getting out of from silk sheets. When you've had the success that he's had, so he can't afford to lose. That's a must, from that it's confidence building.
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"If he thinks 'I can eventually become world champion, I'll fix what I've gone wrong' because he's only been a professional fighter for around 11 years. If he thinks he can fix what he's got wrong, then there's a reason to stick around and chase the guys that are still there, one of them has beaten him twice. There's also that lucrative fight between him and Tyson Fury which everyone is talking about."
Joshua has been inspired by Rocky Balboa and is using some of the fictional character's training methods, such as chopping wood, ahead of his comeback fight. Nelson thinks Joshua has all of the physical capabilities to become a three-time world champion but his biggest hurdle is self-confidence.
"I'd expect Joshua to get it done, but Franklin is 29 years old with 22 fights and has stopped 14 of them," Nelson added. "His last fight against Dillian Whyte, people think he won the fight but that is questionable. My big question is what is there in Anthony Joshua at the moment? After losing two fights on the bounce, he's had to relook at his confidence to think if he really wants this.
"When it comes to boxing Franklin, he needs to be dominant and sharp. He needs to work on that self-confidence because he has ability, otherwise he wouldn't be a world champion but it's about the mind. That's the biggest muscle and thing that fighters mostly seem to miss working."
