Anthony Joshua has brutally been told by boxing legend James Toney to “grow some balls”.

 

Former two-time heavyweight world champion Joshua is unbeaten in his last four fights and will look to capture another world title later this year when he fights Daniel Dubois in his UK return. Oleksandr Usyk is expected to be stripped of his IBF belt so it can be on the line for Joshua and Dubois’ fight at Wembley Stadium.

Toney isn’t a fan of Joshua and doesn’t think he should be fighting Dubois next. “Anthony Joshua, please grow some balls and fight some real fighters. Daniel Dubois, whoever he is, easy win for him. Step up and fight somebody for real, step up,” Toney told Pro Boxing Fans.

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When asked who Joshua should fight, Toney said: “Jared Anderson, maybe James Toney. Nobody wants to see me, I guarantee you that.” Joshua has been criticised for the calibre of his opponents having KO’d boxing novice Francis Ngannou in March after beating the likes of Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin last year.

 

Joshua wants to follow in Usyk’s footsteps by becoming an undisputed heavyweight champion but his dream of fighting for all four world titles could be ruined by Usyk’s plan to move back to cruiserweight. Usyk became undisputed at cruiserweight before moving up to heavyweight and wants to repeat the feat in his old weight class.

“I think maybe after the [Tyson Fury] rematch, I want to go down to my weight at cruiserweight. We have spoken about that, go back down to cruiserweight and get undisputed for the second time in that division,” Usyk told Three Knockdown Rule. The Ukrainian has spent most of his career at cruiserweight and has only fought at heavyweight six times.

Joshua’s retirement plan has been laid out by his promoter Eddie Hearn, who thinks ‘AJ’ could hang up his gloves in two years. Hearn wants Joshua to fight either Fury or Usyk for the undisputed belts with a win against Dubois, who handed Filip Hrgovic his first loss in a career-best performance.