Former super-middleweight champion Carl Froch has said Anthony Joshua “needs a brain transplant” to stand a real chance against Oleksandr Usyk in their highly anticipated rematch.
The 44-year-old appeared on this week’s Lightweight Boxing Show which was filmed at the press conference ahead of the second clash at the Jeddah Super Dome in Saudi Arabia in August.
Usyk won the first bout via decision at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium back in September to steal the WBA (Super), IBF and WBO titles away from Joshua. And Froch can’t see the second fight going any differently.
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“I think for Anthony Joshua to beat Oleksandr Usyk he needs a brain transplant,” Froch told the Lightweight Boxing Show.
“He’s got all the physical attributes, I just don’t think he can beat him. That’s nothing against AJ, Usyk is that good, he’s brilliant. Look at his amateur career, look at his undisputed reign at cruiserweight. Then look at what he did, stepped up, he dipped his tone against [Derek] Chisora and then he did what he did against AJ.”
Usyk is unbeaten in 19 bouts, with 13 wins coming via knockout, and after establishing himself as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight, he made the step up to heavyweight look easy with the way he performed against Joshua last time.
“For Anthony Joshua to win this fight, he needs to totally be on his A-game,” Froch added.
“He needs to thoroughly believe in himself which I don’t think he does.”
The reason Froch feels that Joshua doesn’t stand much of a chance in the rematch is down to how he ended the first fight, stating that the 32-year-old has a real problem of believing in himself at the moment.
“The way he finished the first fight made me concerned for the rematch. He got conclusively outboxed and then he got absolutely beaten up in the last round. Usyk to me looked like he was in second gear.
“He’s [Joshua] made some big changes, AJ, he’s changed his coach. I’m against that but I’m biased because I’m [team] Rob McCracken, he was my [coach for my] whole career.
“Hopefully this change for AJ can get his mindset back. I think Joshua has lacked belief since the [Andy] Ruiz loss.”
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