The bravest thing Anthony Joshua can do is retire from boxing

A friend asked me recently what I thought Anthony Joshua should do next. There have been reports that Joshua will fight again this summer and other reports that he has decided to wait until December. Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder have been mentioned as possible opponents. But there may be a rematch against Dillian Whyte or a fight against a second-tier opponent.

I thought about those and other options. And the answer hit me with crystal clarity: Joshua should retire.

Joshua won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division at the 2012 London Olympics and captured the IBF world heavyweight title four years later by knocking out the lightly regarded Charles Martin. In 2017, in his 19th professional fight, he defended his throne against former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko before 90,000 frenzied fans at Wembley Stadium.

Joshua-Klitschko was an enthralling spectacle. That night, Joshua fulfilled his promise as a fighter by climbing off the canvas to knock out Klitschko in the 11th round. But since then, Joshua’s skills have stagnated. And more significantly, he no longer appears willing to walk through fire to win as he did against Klitschko. He has lost three of his last six fights.

Joshua has changed trainers twice since leaving longtime teacher Rob McCracken more than a year ago. There’s no indication that the switch has made him a better fighter. He looked pedestrian in his last outing – a lacklustre decision over Jermaine Franklin earlier this month. Boxing writer Paul Magno put that fight in perspective, stating, “It was a performance well beneath a man once hyped as the future of boxing. Joshua’s unwillingness to open up for fear of making a mistake and being hurt by a foe who was chosen precisely because