“It’s over” for Anthony Joshua, as it’s time the British heavyweight retired from the sport forever.
That’s according to Top Rank founder Bob Arum, who has helped guide the careers of many of the most famous fighters in history from Muhammad Ali to Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, and Oscar de la Hoya.
A two-time heavyweight boxing champion, there is little left for Joshua to conquer having put together one of the broader resumes in the modern combat sports era thanks to victories over the likes of Dillian Whyte, Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker, Alexander Povetkin, and Francis Ngannou.
And though he bounced back with a four-fight win streak after two successive losses to Oleksandr Usyk, he lost once again September 14 in his Battle of Britain spectacle against rising force Daniel Dubois.
It’s now time he called the curtain down on his prizefighting career, per Arum.
Bob Arum Says Anthony Joshua Should Call it a Day
Joshua has ‘been through a lot of wars,’ he said
Klitschko, Andy Ruiz Jr., and Dubois have all knocked Joshua to the canvas in brutal wars or one-sided fights and those kinds of competitions can take a toll on a fighters body, Arum said. As such, with Joshua already 34 years old and his legacy set in the sport, it’s perhaps time he retires from the sport.
Per Fight Hub, Arum said:
“I just think AJ has been through a lot of wars. I think it’s over for him.”
Arum Suggests One Fight For Joshua to End His Career
Deontay Wilder vs Anthony Joshua could still be big business
There is one fight in particular that Joshua could take on before retiring.
Though his career has often been intertwined with Tyson Fury’s — who Arum has represented through the years — Arum instead regards a fight against American puncher Deontay Wilder to be one that can still generate big business for both fighters, and the sport.
Wilder is renowned as one of the hardest hitters in heavyweight history having knocked down, or knocked out, almost everyone he’s ever fought. After an all-time great trilogy with Fury, which arguably changed both men’s abilities from that moment on, Wilder has beaten Robert Helenius by knockout but lost to Parker by decision and Zhilei Zhang by knockout.
Though Wilder and Joshua are both far removed from the primes of their careers, they can still put on a big event, according to Arum.
“Maybe they can fight each other. That would be good.”
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