By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn blew his stack today in reaction to a harmless article by Thomas Hauser, who said that he believes that Anthony Joshua should retire rather than continue on and continue to take punishment.
Hauser pointed out the obvious, saying that Joshua’s skills have deteriorated since his war with Wladimir Klitschko in 2017 and that he’s no longer willing to get in the trenches as he did back then to win fights.
At this point, AJ looks like he’s heading for Palookaville, and a fight against Deontay Wilder in December will likely be the final straw that sends him there.
If there was any doubt whether Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs) is borderline over-the-hill, all you got to do is look at fights in the last four years in which he’s lost 3 out of his last six.
Hauser’s reasons for why Joshua should retire:
- Changed trainers twice with no improvement
- Lost three out of the last six fights
- Lackluster performance against Franklin
- Unwilling to walk through fire any longer
- Already possesses generational wealth
In AJ’s last performance against the second-tier heavyweight Jermaine Franklin, he looked timid, slow, and a mere shell of the fighter he was a decade ago.
Joshua looked worst than shot against Franklin, and one can only cringe to imagine what Wilder or Tyson Fury will do to him. It’s already challenging to understand half of what Joshua is saying, but it could be wore after those two get through with him.
“You talk about retiring. Thomas Hauser needs to retire,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social in reaction to Hauser saying the 33-year-old Anthony Joshua should retire.
“I just find it absolutely bizarre that you can lose a split decision to Oleksandr Usyk, come back, and win nearly every round against Jermaine Franklin, and then it’s, ‘You have to retire now.’ What the f*** are these people talking about?
“Dillian Whyte struggled against Jermaine Franklin. No one ever said Dillian Whyte should retire. AJ is about to fight Deontay Wilder in one of the biggest fights of all time, and he should retire.
“Show me the damage he’s taken in a fight, the taxing heavyweight fights that Anthony Joshua has had. I find it really disrespectful where you’re doing an article where you’re talking about brain damage and the dangers of boxing and relating to Anthony Joshua and talking about Muhammad Ali and the damage he took.
“Have you ever seen Anthony Joshua in a fight where he’s taken sustained punishment?
“Some of these people in boxing, you have to respect people that have been around a long time, and I would never talk badly about those kinds of people, and sometimes people don’t. They think they sit above others because of the time they’ve served in the sport.
“If AJ went out in the Franklin fight and looked like his punch resistance had gone, I get it,” said Hearn.
