By: Sean Crose
“My next fight is scheduled for December,” Anthony Joshua has posted on social media. “Not ideal but everything is part of a bigger picture.” Indeed, the situation is not ideal, though perhaps there is a good reason for it. If that’s the case, however, the public isn’t being allowed to know. Joshua’s last fight went down just a few weeks ago, which led fans to assume he would be back in the ring, well, earlier than December. Again, though, no reason has been given for the delay, so it could very well be due to an injury.
With that being said, the former WBA, WBO and IBF world heavyweight champion didn’t look overly impressive when he bested Jermaine Franklin at the beginning of this month. Joshua won the bout and won it clearly, but he didn’t knock the gutsy American out, which was what fans obviously wanted to see. A decision win would probably have been taken for granted had Anthony Joshua not previously dropped two in a row to Oleksandr Usyk, who successfully divorced Joshua of his title belts. The losses left a lot of questions circling Joshua, questions which weren’t answered in the Franklin fight and now won’t be answered until December at the earliest.
In truth, it’s been a tough year for the towering Englishman. After losing to Usyk for the second time in a row he saw negotiations fall flat between himself and WBO and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury ( it must be noted that some felt the entire thing may have been a Fury hoax). Perhaps worst of all, Joshua responded to the second loss to Usyk by giving a strange, rambling talk with the ring mic mere minutes after the judge’s scored in Usyk’s favor. It was an emotional moment, however, and frankly shouldn’t define the man.
Not all that long ago, Joshua was arguably the biggest star in the sport. Only Canelo Alvarez may have been more popular (or lucrative). Even a loss to Andy Ruiz back in 2019 didn’t slow the man down. Joshua simply responded to the defeat by changing styles for his rematch with Ruiz, a strategy which paid off exceedingly well considering he beat Ruiz handily the second time around. Unfortunately for Joshua, he wasn’t able to win back his belts a second time when he faced Usyk again last year. That doesn’t mean the man should be written off, however. It’s clearly going to take some time for anyone to rightfully say where Joshua currently stands in the heavyweight landscape.