ROY JONES JR has voiced the issue he believes is holding back Anthony Joshua – leaving him vulnerable to his heavyweight rivals.
AJ returned at the start of April with victory on points over Jermaine Franklin, following consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk.
And despite largely controlling the contest, Joshua failed to produce the fireworks which would have announced him back on the scene.
Joshua’s win – his first since 2020 – keeps talk of super-fights against Tyson Fury, 34, and Deontay Wilder, 37, alive.
But boxing legend-turned coach Jones has urged AJ to swerve fearsome puncher Wilder as he gets to grips on his comeback trail.
He told ID Boxing: “It’s a very tough fight for him. I love AJ to death and I think he’s a great fighter.
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“But his issue right now is dealing with punches coming back at him, so you don’t want to fight Wilder.
“Those punches that will be coming at you from him are different to anybody else in the division, so he’s got to go get that taken care of before he goes in front of Wilder.”
Following Joshua’s initial September 2021 loss to Usyk, 36, he parted ways with long-time cornerman Rob McCracken.
But his American replacement Robert Garcia was also axed after defeat in the rematch last August.
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Joshua has since linked up with Texan Derrick James and the two got off to winning ways against Franklin, 29.
But Jones – who previously offered his services to AJ – believes the best is yet to come from the partnership.
He said: “Sometimes it takes time for a fighter and trainer to get their whole aspect together.
“Apparently, that hasn’t happened straight away, but if they stay together, then maybe they’ll finally get some continuity, but they definitely did get any in that first fight.
“Hopefully they get better as they go, it sometimes takes bit of time for things to kick in for a fighter and they get on the same page.
“So hopefully in the next couple of fights they’ll get better and start to gel, because in that fight they didn’t get much at all.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
