AJ/Franklin Press Conference

I couldn't watch much of it. Joshua just doesn't look or sound O.K to me. He truly looks fried.

He's a shell of the person that he was 5 years ago.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if he loses this fight.

 

The point being a lot of boxers just fight for a check, for money ... you see those "2 wins and 57 losses" guys on a lot of Eddie Hearn undercards.

You don't tend to get "maximum effort" from boxers who just fight for a check. You get maximum effort from fighters who have something to prove or simply love it.

Eddie Hearn, in the clip, even tries to set Joshua up by saying, "Where is the desire to fight? I know you love to fight ..." like Hearn was coaching him to go, "SAY YOU LOVE BOXING."

And Joshua just drearily said I'm fighting for money.

I doubt Franklin has anything to trouble Joshua, which was why he was chosen. Franklin looks tiny and spooked. But Joshua also looks like a guy ready to bail the moment the first thing goes wrong. And it wouldn't be the first time.

A headbutt and cut, and he'll be looking for the fight to be stopped.

The wheels have seemingly come off and Eddie's doing everything he can to wrap them in tape and hold them on.

 

Exactly.

Money, especially to those who already have plenty of it, is related to luxury, comfort. It's not something that pushes men to feats of greatness, if anything the opposite. The merchant mentality is all about cost-benefit; trying to get the maximum return while giving the least back. A boxer devoted primarily to maximising revenue might well quit when the going gets tough (to avoid "unnecessary" damage, which shortens careers and compromises health, reducing revenue, or to avoid the image-damaging embarrassment of potentially being dropped more or knocked unconscious) and he'll always favour playing it safe rather than taking risks. Hence Joshua regards Ruiz 2 (an embarrassing display against a compromised opponent, who had previously humiliated him) as his best performance. Also, fighters like Joshua can make huge amounts of money win or lose, so if that's the priority then it suggests that losing a fight isn't THAT bad, he's still a "winner" anyway.

The response also indicates a lack of intelligence. It doesn't play well with the public, who want gladiators rather than mercenaries. It doesn't suggest he's mentally in a good place to his rivals. It gives sneering antagonist Fury more avenues to mock him as a "businessman". Joshua is good at creating a rod for his own back.

 

After watching the DW fight again, it would not surprise me in the least if Franklyn causes the upset, if he can go to the body the way he did against Dillian then he has won half the battle, get to his body and he will gas badly. Plus the fact that when Franklyn gets hit he is not afraid to get stuck right back in which will have AJ going into doubt mode, the upset could be on chaps.