Carl Froch continues to play down the achievements of compatriot Anthony Joshua ahead of a three-time heavyweight title attempt.
Joshua faces Daniel Dubois on Saturday week at Wembley Stadium in a bid for a third reign. However, as World Boxing News pointed out in a recent article, AJ’s victories will be for two vacant titles not defended by the actual champion and a win over Andy Ruiz Jr. in a six-month contracted rematch he never trained for.
Ahead of the battle, Froch disagreed that those victories would give Joshua a place in boxing history alongside fellow thrice rulers Lennox Lewis and Muhammad Ali.
“I don’t often disagree with much of what Simon Jordan [talkSPORT] says. I like how he sticks it on people and is honest. But he did say if AJ beats Dubois and becomes a three-time world champion, he’s in the realm of immortality. Sorry, Simon, but that’s bulls***. You can’t say that winning a vacant title that’s been stripped off the champ makes you a three-time world champion,” Froch said on his YouTube channel ‘Froch on Fighting.’
He added, “That’s the problem I’ve got with this title being fragmented or being vacated or taken off the actual real champ, which is Usyk. That’s my main problem. If AJ beats Dubois, he’s going to hold his hand up with that IBF belt and say, I am now a three-time heavyweight world champion. And everybody with a brain is going to be looking, saying, hang on a minute, didn’t you lose to the guy [twice] that just took that belt off?
“Boxing shouldn’t be like that. And that will be solved if we have the boxing league. If Turki Alalshikh steps in and starts running boxing like Dana White [UFC style]. You won’t get this.”
Froch then added information on his world title wins to avoid any comebacks.
“I’ll go back to what I said earlier before the fanboys get upset and start writing into the Cobra, moaning about how I fought Lucian Bute for the IBF title. He had ten defenses, and he was an unbeaten IBF champion. So I beat the champ. And also the WBC as well. I fought for the WBC title, which Joe Calzaghe vacated because he didn’t want a piece of the Cobra.
“But look what Jean Pascal went on to do. He was the WBC champion in his next fight, one or two fights. In fact, we’re talking about people who went on to win world titles after I beat them. Jermaine Taylor was still a world champion six or seven years later. That’s after I defended that WBC title for the first time in America when I climbed off the canvas in round three and then beat him in the dying seconds of the last round.
“That my fellow friends and followers and lovers of Froch on Fighting is why I am in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn will undoubtedly be lauding Joshua’s achievements if he avoids being knocked out by Dubois in London. Only time will then tell if Joshua will be remembered in the same breath as Lewis.
It seems an unlikely scenario. Joshua first has to defeat Dubois.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
