‘Joshua lacks confidence for big fights, December clash with Fury uncertain’

Anthony Joshua (right) regained some respect with victory over Jermaine Franklin… on April 1.

Anthony Joshua, who was one of the world’s most feared boxers about six years ago, has lost confidence such that every decent heavyweight feels he can beat the former champion.

Joshua, the former heavyweight unified champion and star in England, turned back a game Jermaine Franklin of Michigan over 12 rounds earlier this month at O2 Arena in London. It was Joshua’s first win since suffering back-to-back defeats to current unified champion, Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine.

But the boxing world was not impressed by the Nigerian-born boxer’s display.

Like many in the boxing world, Swedish heavyweight contender, Otto Wallin, wasn’t overly impressed by Joshua’s latest performance in the ring.

Critics have been divided on how to grade his performance, especially given it was his first fight under the stewardship of new trainer, Derrick James. Some—even his own promoter, Eddie Hearn—have suggested Joshua appeared gun-shy and hesitant at times. Joshua, moreover, weighed 255 ¼ pounds, the heaviest of his career.

Wallin, who has been something of a perennial candidate to face Joshua, is very much of the opinion that Joshua is no longer the same fighter that he once was, saying his “confidence” has been totally ruined. Piggybacking on a widely-held theory that Joshua was irrevocably changed after his brutal tussle with Wladimir Klitschko and knockout loss to Andy Ruiz, Wallin believes Joshua has become something of a basket case inside the ring.

“I don’t think his physique has changed,” Wallin told iD Boxing. “I think it’s more his mental game. I think he’s lost a lot of confidence. You know, maybe it started when he had that tear-up with Klitschko and