Izuchukwu Okosi
Brit-Nigerian heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua has been warned that he will lose to both Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury and will be left with ‘nothing to bring to the table’.
Joshua whose father hails from Ijebu-Ode in Ogun state, South West Nigeria relinquished his world titles yet again in September to the Ukrainian, Usyk, in a lopsided affair and was scheduled to head straight back in for an immediate rematch.
However, a step aside deal was mooted to allow Tyson Fury to fight Usyk and unify the division once and for all, even though it was swiftly declined.
Joshua was so convincingly beaten at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, there were rumours he was going to restructure his coaching team and involve American trainers.
Yet talkSPORT host and avid boxing fan Simon Jordan believes it matters little what Joshua does next as he believes both Fury and Usyk would beat the Brit.“As a fighting man, he has got to fight Usyk,” Jordan told talkSPORT.
“He’s got to right that wrong and win back the belts that he handed over to Usyk.
“As a commercial man, he is in a very difficult bind because he is going to get beat by Usyk again, and even if he steps aside to let Usyk fight Fury on the chance he gets to fight Fury after Fury deposes Usyk, he is going to get beat by Fury.
“So he is in a challenging position, Joshua, because commercially-speaking, does he wait to get paid for the Joshua vs Fury fight and take a big bag of money? Does he take step aside money now and lose all credibility?“Or does he fight Usyk again and lose again and then be a finished article?”
“I think, if he is sensible for himself, he takes the step aside money and gets to fight Fury,” Jordan added.“If he is a fighter, as we are all supposed to believe he is, he gets in the ring and fights Usyk.
“He is going to put himself at a career-ending position if he loses to Usyk again, because he has got nothing to bring to the table besides a once big reputation.”
There has been expectations that Joshua whose middle name is Olufemi will sedau fight in Abuja.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
Follow Us