Anthony Joshua should still fight on despite his devastating defeat to Daniel Dubois, says heavyweight rival Dillian Whyte.
Whyte has been a fierce, outspoken opponent of Joshua’s, both before and after their 2015 British title fight.
But he is backing Joshua to fight on.
“He’s still got a lot left in the tank and he’s still a big draw. And as you can see in the fight, he’s still a big puncher. He had Dubois going before Dubois landed the finishing blow,” Whyte told Sky Sports News.
“It’s hard to say, he’s young, he’s strong, he looks in amazing shape. He’s still got a lot of fight left in him.”
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Sky Sports’ Andy Scott, Barry Jones, and Barry Smith discuss whether Anthony Joshua is still the face of British boxing
IBF heavyweight world champion Dubois knocked out Joshua in impressive style in the fifth round at Wembley Stadium in September.
Dubois will make the next defence of his title in February and while a potential rematch with Joshua had been mooted, AJ won’t be ready to box so soon in the new year.
Whyte though doesn’t believe that defeat should spell the end of Joshua’s fighting career.
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Tyson Fury tells Sky News’ Jacquie Beltrao that a fight between Anthony Joshua and himself would be an interesting one
“People put too much emphasis on a defeat in heavyweight boxing,” Whyte said. “That’s why a lot of fights don’t happen.
“They don’t get made because people put a lot of emphasis on win, lose and draw instead of enjoying the fact that two top guys are fighting each other now, which wasn’t happening a few years ago.”
Fury the ‘obvious’ next fight for AJ
Trainer Tony Sims, who worked with Joshua in the early part of the Olympic gold medallist’s professional career, believes waiting to fight Tyson Fury is the “obvious” next move for AJ, regardless of what happens in Fury’s December 21 rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
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Matthew Macklin weighs up why it could be time for Anthony Joshua to retire from professional boxing saying ‘what’s he got to gain, when he has so much to lose?’
“I think the younger ones now, leave them alone,” Sims told Sky Sports. “Boxing evolves like anything in life.
“The young ones come through. If you look at every heavyweight champion, like Ali, Larry Holmes, the young guys always come through to take over from the old guns. No matter how good you are. The youth always overcomes experience eventually.
“Joshua’s 34 now going on 35, he’s been a great champion. You’ve got a young fighter who’s hungry in Daniel Dubois and he’s took that title. I think the obvious fight is Tyson Fury and Joshua still, whether Tyson wins or loses against [Oleksandr] Usyk.
“I think that’s the obvious fight for Joshua next. I think that’s still a massive fight. Both of them are later on in age and I think that’s a great fight for both of them.”
