Anthony Joshua could retire with a "disappointing career" if he loses to Oleksandr Usyk again on Saturday night, according to Kell Brook.
The former welterweight world champion, who announced his own retirement earlier this year after beating Amir Khan in February, believes Joshua losing a second consecutive fight would be a disaster for the Brit. And he feels that if the bout doesn't go his way, he could hang up the gloves with a record many will feel is lacklustre.
Joshua has beaten a number of major names during his career, including Wladimir Klitschko, Andy Ruiz Jr and Joseph Parker. But he has lost on the big stage as well, first to Ruiz in the summer of 2019 and then last September against Usyk in a disappointing showing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
And speaking with safebettingsites.com, Brook explained how there will be disappointment around Joshua's career if he retires this weekend. Joshua would retire at the age of 32 with an Olympic gold medal and as a two-time unified heavyweight champion, but wouldn't have achieved his goal of becoming undisputed champion.
"To be honest with you, I see Usyk beating him again," Brook said. "Unless Anthony Joshua comes out and he puts it on him from round one and uses his size and strength. The only way, in my opinion, that Anthony Joshua can win is to use his strength and his power and put it on him in that way. In a boxing match, it’s Usyk all day every day.
"He could retire if he did get beat, because he wouldn’t have the x-factor anymore, basically. That feeling of this big Anthony Joshua, before he got beat, with the people behind him. Him losing again it just disheartens all the fans, and they just move on to the next fighter, don’t they? That’s what happens. Human nature."
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Brook is unsure if after two losses on the bounce to Usyk, a former undisputed cruiserweight champion and pound-for-pound great, that fans will still want to see Joshua compete again. He has just signed a lucrative multi-fight deal with streaming platform DAZN for his worldwide broadcast rights, but may not give them a chance to activate the deal if he hangs up the gloves.
"He’d have been beat twice by Usyk – will people want to see him again? I don’t know. He could retire. I believe he would be disappointed with his career. He’s beat some good fighters, but he’s not beat any great fighters," he added. "The Ruiz loss and the Usyk defeats. I don’t think he’d go down as anything great, would he? He’s not done anything that would put him on that pedestal. I think he’d realise that himself as well."
