BY BOXINGSCENE STAFF May 09, 2023 Source: Boxing Scene
Photo Source: Boxing Scene
Malik Scott, head trainer for Deontay Wilder, felt Anthony Joshua had a fair performance against Jermaine Franklin.
Last month at the O2 Arena in London, Joshua picked up a twelve round unanimous decision over Franklin to snap a two-fight losing streak.
Entering the bout, Joshua had lost back to back fights to unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. Last October, Wilder snapped a two-fight losing streak of his own, when he blasted out Robert Helenius in one round. Wilder was coming back from back to back stoppage losses to WBC champion Tyson Fury.
There is ongoing chatter about a potential clash between Joshua and Wilder, on a date in December in Saudi Arabia.
Scott recently took another look at Joshua's performance from last month, to further review the British star's performance.
“I looked at the fight again, and I think it was a fair [performance]. Do I think he’s right in line to be knocked out by Wilder? Absolutely. But I also saw so many good things that AJ did," Scott told IFL TV.
"I like the AJ that fought [Alexander] Povetkin, that fought Dillian Whyte for the first time, the AJ that fought [Kubrat] Pulev. That AJ [that beat Franklin] doesn’t seem like it’s there right now, but we’ll see. I don’t want to keep critiquing him, sometimes my honesty threatens other peoples reality.”
Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua, recently took a trip to the Middle East to hold discussions regarding a possible encounter with Wilder.
"Just look at that situation and decide if there's a fight - which will now be early August - for Anthony Joshua. If he does fight before then. I would like him to, I think Derrick James would and I think AJ would," Hearn said.
"But we'll have to see how those talks evolve with Deontay Wilder We just made for clear to them. Our message was, 'AJ is ready for all of those fights and is happy to agree to a Deontay Wilder fight in December.' And we'll see if we can close terms in the next couple of weeks."
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