By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua says he’ll be hanging up his gloves within five years, as feels he’s coming to the end of his career shortly. Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) is 31-years-old now, and in five years he’ll be his mid-30s, and no longer in his prime.
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist Joshua isn’t interested in hanging on longer than five years with his career. He would be facing a lot of young lions at that point, and they might have too much for him.
Joshua’s chin and stamina problems make him vulnerable to losing at any time, unfortunately, and that makes it difficult to see him lasting another five years.
Joshua has already been knocked out by Andy Ruiz Jr, and who knows what will happen when he takes on Tyson Fury twice in 2021.
We could see Joshua retired this year if he’s beaten twice by the WBC heavyweight champion Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs).
Joshua coming towards the end
“This isn’t the start of my career. I’m coming towards the end of my career,” Joshua said to Sky Sports News.
“I’m always planning ahead so I’m coming towards the end of my career.”
When you talk about retirement, it’s not a good idea for any fighter to speculate by predicting that they’ll be fighting a certain amount of years.
You have to play it on a fight by fight, year by year basis instead of talking about five years. There are too many things that can happen long before a fighter reaches the five-year point.
“Five years left and that’s basically an Olympic cycle,” said Joshua. “I’ve got an Olympic cycle and a little bit more left, so when you see the next Olympics happen is when I’ll be coming to the end of my career.”
There’s a very real possibility that Joshua could be retiring in one or to years at the most. He’s probably not going to deal with getting between twice in a row by Fury this year.
Getting between in consecutive fights is going to be a bitter pill for Joshua to handle, and it might be too much for him mentally to digest those defeats.
Joshua has too much pride for him to take the easy path after losing to Fury, and he’s likely to want to fight the top guys in the division.
What happens if Joshua loses 3 straight fights?
If Joshua faces Ruiz Jr, Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte, or Oleksandr Usyk, those fighters could beat him.
It’ll be hard enough for Joshua to deal with two defeats against Fury. Taking another defeat right away on the back to back losses to Fury would be a watershed moment for Joshua.
AJ is not going to want to continue with his career if he gets beaten three times in a row, and that’s very likely to happen.
Joshua dodged a bullet when Andy Ruiz Jr opted not to train for their rematch in December 2019 and came into the fight out of shape at 283 lbs.
Would Joshua have beaten the same version of Ruiz that stopped him in the seventh round in June 2019? Probably not.
Ruiz would have negated Joshua’s Klitschko-esque fighting style and lit him up like a Christmas tree with his speedy combinations.
Joshua was lucky to beat Wladimir in 2017, and Whyte in 2015. Those were both fights in which Joshua was hurt badly, and fortunate he didn’t take losses.
Will Fury continue fighting after 2021?
Fury says he wants to keep fighting until he’s 40-years-old, but that’s not likely to happen. He’s going to make around $100 million for his fight against Joshua, and it could be more than that in the rematch if he gets the 60-40 split.
At that point with a net worth of over $200 million, would Fury want to continue fighting? Probably not. He’ll likely buy a huge Sutton Place type mansion in Surrey, and hang up the gloves.
Fury will find it very difficult to find the motivation to resume his career after he faces Joshua twice this year. It’s a rare boxer that is able to continue fighting once they’ve made a huge fortune.
Look Floyd Mayweather Jr is just one of many examples of fighters that retire after they receive a massive payday.