Carl Froch has admitted his doubts about Anthony Joshua as he demands the former world champion to make a fight with Dillian Whyte.
‘AJ’ looks to be targeting a fight for August 12 as he continues his rebuild under new coach Derrick James. An unconvincing win over Jermaine Franklin in April has pushed Joshua to pursue a domestic fight this summer ahead of a proposed big-money bout with Deontay Wilder in December.
Promoter Eddie Hearn outlined that an offer had been made to Dillian Whyte, with the pair exchanging in a back-and-forth that revealed a supposed rematch clause in the contract offer. Froch has slammed the suggestion of a rematch clause and questioned how much Joshua’s team want him to risk his payday against Wilder in Saudi Arabia.
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“To fight someone like Dillian Whyte, for me, is a massive risk,” Froch told his YouTube channel. “I think it’s a fight he should take and I think it’s a fight that if he can go in confident and win, that will set him up beautifully for the Saudi Arabia semi-final, the big-money fight. That’s the golden goose and where the sights are set on.
“From Whyte’s point of view, if he beats AJ, he then has to wait another six, seven, eight months until AJ can be bothered to get ready for the rematch. If he beats AJ, he wants to move on to bigger and better things and maybe he’ll get the spot in Saudi Arabia and get £50m.”
Saudi Arabian promotion company Skills Challenge Entertainment are reportedly working on an event that would see Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk in an undisputed fight, as well as Joshua facing Wilder. However, former world champion Froch feels ‘AJ’ could live to regret not making the fight with Whyte in preparation for the showdown in the Middle East.
“It’s annoying, it’s frustrating. It’s heavyweight boxing and it just tells me that Anthony Joshua probably isn’t that confident,” Froch continued.
“Let me tell you something - if he goes out to Saudi Arabia (without fighting) Dillian Whyte - fighting Deontay Wilder on the back of a Jermaine Franklin boxing session, he’s going to jump in there and get el sparko’d in one round! He’ll get knocked out in one round by Deontay Wilder, if he thinks he can jump straight in there for his next fight, on the back of the Franklin match.”
