World heavyweight champion suggests Anthony Joshua should retire

IBF heavyweight champion Filip Hrgovic has said that Anthony Joshua “is psychologically not in a good place and should retire.”

Joshua has suffered some bitter defeats in his career but has managed to recover from some of them. His first upset loss was against Andy Ruiz in 2019, which he avenged in the rematch.

He was then defeated in back-to-back matches by Oleksandr Usyk, but he responded with a steady run of wins before being knocked out by Daniel Dubois.

In less than a year, he knocked out American YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul and Albanian professional boxer Kristian Prenga and now heads into a super fight with Tyson Fury in December, looking to be at his explosive best.

However, speaking to The Stomping Ground, IBF heavyweight champion Hrgovic questioned Joshua’s decision to change coaches again, suggesting the Briton is not in the right psychological state.

AJ has previously worked with Rob McCracken, Robert Garcia, Oleksandr Usyk and Ben Davison, who he is returning to for the Fury fight.

“Look, Anthony Joshua changed already 20 coaches, so I think it’s not about coaches. I think he’s complicating too much and he lost that confidence in himself. I think psychologically he’s not in a good place and obviously he’s doing this, and if you’re not in a good place with yourself no coach can help you,” Hrgovic said.

“Emanuel Steward or any coach in history or all of them together, it’s not going to help you if you’re not in a good place with yourself, if you don’t have confidence in yourself. It’s not about coaches, it’s about him.”

He then suggested Anthony Joshua is taking the fight for the wrong reasons and should retire.

“He’s doing this fight for financial reasons, and after this fight he should retire,” the Croatian boxer added.

Joshua and Fury fight takes place at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales on December 11.