Anthony Joshua is preparing for the most high profile fight of his career, as he gears up for a long-awaited showdown with British rival, Tyson Fury.

However, ahead of the highly anticipated clash, one reigning heavyweight world champion has admitted he feels ‘sorry for AJ’ and believes he should never fight again.

Joshua was halted by Daniel Dubois in devastating fashion when challenging for the IBF heavyweight world title in 2024, but the two-time heavyweight ruler made his comeback last December, when he knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer, Jake Paul.

That was his first outing since joining Team Usyk and appointing Iegor Golub as lead cornerman but the second was far less smooth, as he was twice dropped by the previously unknown Kristian Prenga in July, before scoring a second-round knockout over the Albanian.

As he attempts to prove his doubters wrong, Joshua has now reunited with former trainer, Ben Davison, the man who was also once in the corner for ‘The Gypsy King.’

Ahead of the fight, reigning IBF heavyweight champion Filip Hrgovic told the Ariel Helwani Show that the Briton ‘is done’ and ‘shouldn’t be fighting anymore.‘

“He is done, he shouldn’t be fighting anymore, but he wants to do one more fight. I think that he is going to make a huge amount of money and he is doing it because of that, but I think that he shouldn’t be fighting anymore.

“When I saw that last fight, I felt sorry for him because before the fight he said that he shut all of his businesses to focus on boxing. He changed his coach for the 20th time. He started to work with team Usyk, he did everything that he could do and then he comes to the fight with a journeyman and he goes down in 10 seconds!

“I couldn’t believe it. I felt sorry for him and I think he shouldn’t be fighting anymore, based on how he looked in his last fight, it was a disaster. He is just not there, man.”

Hrgovic then went on to warn Joshua ‘not to mess around with boxing’.

“It is not basketball, it is not soccer, in boxing you come to a point where you can’t fight anymore. It is a dangerous sport, it is a war and I think that when you come to a point where you can’t fight, you can’t mess around with boxing.”

Fury-Joshua takes place in Cardiff on Friday, December 11, whilst Hrgovic is expected to return to action in a first defence of his heavyweight crown against Frank Sanchez in Croatia in early 2027.