Having watched Anthony Joshua's comeback win from ringside, Ebanie Bridges remains unimpressed with the British heavyweight boxer.
Joshua secured his first victory in over two years by outpointing Jermaine Franklin over 12 rounds at London's O2 Arena on Saturday night, before calling out Tyson Fury.
Based on her observations from watching Joshua's latest fight up close, Bridges is of the opinion that a fight against Tyson Fury would be a one-sided affair and a mismatch at this point. She even went as far as to suggest that Joshua would struggle against several other British heavyweights.
She told talkSPORT: “I think if Franklin was a better fighter and a bit of a bully, he could have really put AJ off.
“Fury would destroy him, with his strength, power and spite. Even ‘Juggernaught’ Joe Joyce. Joe Joyce we all know he’s a bit stiff and robotic a little bit but he’s tough and can hit hard and will keep walking forward. Even [Derek] Chisora.
“I just feel like he looks a little bit lost on cruise control and he won’t beat Fury or Deontay [Wilder] like that. Even Dillian Whyte.
“He is just gonna go in there and make hell. You see, these fighters aren’t scared to get hit, they are not scared to take some to give some.”
The IBF bantamweight champion believes that Joshua hasn’t looked the same since suffering a shock knockout loss to Andy Ruiz in 2019 and says he needs to rediscover the spite that made him a world champion
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Bridges added: “Man, he’s definitely not the same AJ he was before [Andy] Ruiz.
“It’s very frustrating to watch. The thing is, he’s still winning but no one wants to watch that style. He seems very gun-shy, he seems very scared to get hit, he just seems like he has no spite.
“Why doesn’t he want to go for the kill? I don’t get it. We need to see some more spite in AJ and I don’t know if he can get it. I feel like he’s just scared, honestly, and I know a lot of people are saying it’s hard to judge but that’s what it really looks like.
“I feel like if I was in there as his opponent you could see it and you could feel that, that he’s not letting his hands go, he’s scared to engage, he doesn’t want to put his punches together in case he gets caught in between punches, he doesn’t want to commit or go forward.
“I don’t get it. I don’t think I could be like that but I think he’s just so scared about getting knocked out again it’s messed him up mentally – that’s what it looks like from the outside.
Fury is yet to react to Joshua’s latest win or respond to his call out.
Right now, a rematch with Whyte appears to be most likely for AJ following their wild brawl for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles in 2015.
If any opponent is going to bring Joshua’s spite back, it’s ‘The Body Snatcher’ as they have a long-running feud that started during their days as amateur boxers.
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