By Jake Tiernan: Carl Froch really let Anthony Joshua have it today, lecturing him about his money-focus on his career, poor novice-level performance, and his unprofessional behavior of jumping out of the ring while Robert Helenius was receiving medical assistance after being knocked out by AJ in the seventh round last Saturday night in London.
Froch says Joshua (26-3, 23 KOs) isn’t ready to fight Deontay Wilder after his dreadful performance against Helenius, and if he takes that match-up, it’s only because of the money he’ll get.
Carl notes that it was weird & disrespectful how Joshua jumped out of the ring while Helenius was badly hurt, lying down after being knocked out.
As for Joshua’s performance, Froch thinks that AJ looked awful, appearing timid, gun-shy, and lacking the aggression he would need to take a lethal puncher like Deontay in January.
Froch says the bloody Joshua ran over to Conor McGregor in the crowd and took a swig of his Irish stout, and with blood dropping out of his mouth & nose.
Carl thinks that was risky for Joshua because he didn’t know what was in the bottle, and he still had a post-fight drug test to take.
Does Joshua only care about money?
“I think the performance from AJ was so bad that I would be really shocked if he takes the Deontay Wilder fight. If he takes the Deontay Wilder fight in his next fight, he’s doing it purely for the money,” said Froch on his Youtube channel.
“He did say now that money is his motivation. That shouldn’t be your motivation in boxing. You should want to become a champion. You should want to be the best in the world; you should want to have a legacy. If you ever want to be in the Hall of Fame, that’s where your mind should be. Not how much money you’re earning.
“If you go into the Deontay Wilder fight thinking about money, you’re going to walk into a right hand. Stylistically wise, AJ is like a beginner. That performance against Helenius, if that was AJ’s 13th or 14th fight earlier in his pro career, and he put on that performance. Let’s show some aggression, but he never has.
“The rematch with Ruiz was a jab & run. It was a very weak performance, safety first. AJ needs to get his mind right, and the only way he’s going to get confident is by being aggressive, on his front foot, putting combination punches together, being aggressive, and going for it, and he doesn’t do any of that,” said Froch.
AJ’s behavior was unprofessional
“The only reason he got the knockout of Helenius is because Helenius was knackered by round seven,” continued Froch. “He’d had enough. He’d busted up AJ behind the jab.
“There was swelling under his eyes; his nose was p***ing with blood; his mouth was all bleeding, as we saw when he jumped out of the ring, which was a bit strange, and had a slurp on that nasty Irish stout that Conor McGregor shoved in his face. All that blood, snot & sweat went into that pint. How professional is that?
“AJ jumps out of the ring, which is disrespectful as well. Helenius is receiving medical attention, and he jumps out of the ring. Do go over to Conor McGregor, who is trying to steal the show.
“He shouldn’t have drunk that stout because it could have been contaminated. He’s got a post-fight drug test. That was very unprofessional from Anthony Joshua.
“Anthony Joshua’s performance was a five out of ten for me. Helenius was sticking a jab out and ram-rodding it in Joshua’s face. It was a poor, weak jab.
