Johnny Nelson shares his views on a potential February rematch between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois being delayed, saying AJ’s “doubt from within” could be the reason after he was KOd by his British rival last month…
I am not surprised if this fight gets pushed back, I don’t think this will be AJ’s next fight.
I think it is more of a mental thing with AJ, not physical, in my opinion. He got knocked out, had a hard training camp, and you don’t know what effect the knockout has had on him.
The doubt is from him within. He has to want it more than anyone else. I think that’s the reason for the delay.
We know he is fit but he has to get through the mental impact the first fight had on him. The only one in two minds is probably him and he has to figure out what went wrong against Dubois.
It probably wasn’t the gameplan as if he carried out the gameplan then there was something fundamentally wrong.
The only thing you can put it down to is his mindset. How can he get his head around sticking to a gameplan and getting the job done? That’s an AJ thing, not a coach thing or a management thing.
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Another angle of Daniel Dubois’ devastating knockout of Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium in September
You are experienced enough. You know what you are capable of. You are a former two-time world heavyweight champion. There is no reason that should happen. There is no excuse.
I am a fan of AJ – but there may be a fundamental problem there that is going to keep on happening.
AJ knows he is a good fighter and he is a great motivational speaker, getting people to get the best out of themselves. Unfortunately, it seems like he doesn’t listen to his own advice.
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Matthew Macklin weighs up why it could be time for Joshua to retire from professional boxing
It’s like he questions his own abilities. It’s about having the confidence to match the ability. We have seen him at his best but you have to produce consistency at this stage of your career as every fight is as valuable as the last fight.
AJ has now dropped to No 7 in The Ring Magazine world rankings and you are wondering which version will turn up. You shouldn’t be that fighter at this stage of your career.
A training camp is usually about 10 weeks, so February is enough time to prepare for this. But for AJ it is building that confidence back up again. He has to go in there confident.