Carl Froch thinks Anthony Joshua will 'want to retire' if he loses to Francis Ngannou this Friday.
AJ is currently in the form of his life after beating Jermaine Franklin Jr, Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin last year.
The Briton was written off as a faded force when he crashed to consecutive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk, while also failing to beat Andy Ruiz Jr.
But with three victories in 2023, Joshua is a boxer on the rise once again.
Anthony Joshua 'could retire' claims Carl Froch ahead of the boxing star's fight with Francis Ngannou
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Froch feels, however, that AJ may opt to quit the sport if he crashes to defeat against Ngannou later this week.
Ngannou has had just one career fight so far, with the former MMA man losing to Tyson Fury back in October.
And Froch thinks it will be too tough for Joshua to take if he's unable to beat a man with such little experience to his name.
“Depending on how the fight goes with Ngannou, and if he was to lose, there's always options for him," he told Lucky Block.
"A loss isn't always the end of the road.
"I'm not going to say if he loses to Ngannou he should retire. But if he does lose to Ngannou in a bad fight and gets knocked out, he'll probably want to retire.
"Because you've made that much money, you're in such a good position financially, why go on boxing and getting your head punched in when you don't need to?
"That's why I retired. I retired at 36 years old, because I thought I'd made enough money, I've got three kids at home and I'm healthy.”
Froch does feel, however, that Joshua will be excited by his fight with Ngannou.
He added: “I think Anthony Joshua will be licking his lips.
"He's in against somebody who's making his second professional boxing match.
"He's a heavyweight mixed martial arts world champion, one of the most dangerous men on the planet but it's only his second fight as a professional.
"So really and truly, this fight for Anthony Joshua will be as easy or as hard as he wants to make it.
"I think AJ can get behind his boxing ability, the boxing skills that won him Olympic gold in London in 2012 and made him a two-time world heavyweight champion.
"He's got the experience of being in with the best in the world and he can sit back and just see how this heavyweight landscape sort of pans out.”
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Boxing news: Francis Ngannou has had just one fight ahead of his showdown with Anthony Joshua
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Joshua's stock, and his popularity, is increasing again.
And Froch has taken aim at Tyson Fury, admitting the Gypsy King has become a 'villain' while his rival becomes the hero.
“The fans are turning back round in Joshua’s favour now and they're going against Fury, because you always need a villain, don't you?" he said.
"British fans, they love it, don't they? We're very fickle as fans.
"We build you up, we get behind you, then we kick you down.
Boxing news: Anthony Joshua has been working in the gym ahead of his battle with Francis Ngannou
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"Then when you're down and out and you're in the gutter, we like it when you climb back up. When you climb back up, you're a hero again.
"We saw it happen to David Beckham didn’t we and now everyone loves him.
"But I think AJ should just concentrate on Ngannou, and then have a look at how the landscape changes, because is Usyk vs Fury even going to happen?”
