Former cruiserweight world champion Johnny Nelson believes Anthony Joshua’s opportunity to compete for boxing’s most prestigious titles has passed.

Nelson has pinned the former world No.1’s decline on his lack of a support system that would push him to peak performance. Just three years ago, Joshua, 35, was positioned to unify the heavyweight division before back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk.

The Olympic gold medallist then seemed to be mounting a comeback after stringing together four consecutive victories, only to endure a crushing fifth-round knockout loss to Daniel Dubois last year. Nelson, who hung up his gloves in 2006 following a decade without defeat, reckons the boxing world has “seen the best” of Joshua and he has partly attributed his tumble from the world title scene to ‘AJ’ lacking the proper individuals in his camp.

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“It’s very hard to have people around you that’ll tell you how it is,” ‘The Entertainer’ told the Mirror, courtesy of NewBettingSites.uk. “You’re going to have people around you that want to stay in your employment, stay in that circle. So they’re going to tell you stuff that you want to hear.

“They’re not going to tell you, ‘You need to be doing this, you need to get a hand up, you’re getting hit, you’re getting beat up by this guy here. Why are you doing that? Why aren’t you running this time? Why are you going to open that crisp packet when you should be in the gym?'”

Nelson claimed: “Nobody on his squad are going to dare tell him that with any conviction. And so now all of a sudden the roles have changed, whereas when you’re hungry, and you need it, they want to drag you up.

“Now he’s the boss. They work for him. And so that’s where the problem is. And I think that along with time, along with age, along with experience, along with appetite, once they get out of kilter [it’s over]. AJ’s in that position.”

A clear tone of disappointment could be detected in AJ’s voice as he watched Usyk’s brutal knockout of Dubois at Wembley on Saturday.  Promoter Eddie Hearn informed his fighter they “should have beaten Dubois,” with the former world champion responding plainly: “I know.”

Joshua’s perfect record was shattered when he endured another shocking defeat in June 2019, suffering a seventh-round stoppage against Andy Ruiz. Whilst he secured revenge just six months afterwards, it provided yet another illustration of the Briton’s misjudgement.

His pair of points losses to Usyk can scarcely be deemed disgraceful considering the Ukrainian’s triumphs since stepping up to heavyweight. However, the same cannot necessarily be argued regarding his IBF title bout with Dubois, especially given the condition he displayed during that period.

Nevertheless, it’s arguably significant that both of those shocking defeats to Ruiz and Dubois occurred during periods when AJ was experiencing tremendous momentum in his career.

The first materialised when Joshua boasted a perfect 22-0 record and possessed the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles, whilst Dubois conquered him precisely when it appeared he had regained his dominance, having stopped each of his preceding three opponents.

He now confronts an uncertain future, with a potential bout against YouTuber Jake Paul being suggested, whilst rumours of a Tyson Fury encounter are perpetually circulating.

Nelson proceeded to compare Joshua’s predicament to that of former training partner Prince Naseem Hamed, who was once a world-beater himself.

“I’ve been around Prince Naseem, an amazing fighter. And I was around him from the very beginning of his career,” Nelson continued. “But then all of a sudden he started to surround himself with yes men. He deleted all the people that kept him grounded and said it how it was to him to keep him real.

“And the more yes men he surrounded himself with, the more his boxing life turned into chaos. He lost fights he shouldn’t have done.

“He was surrounding himself by the swimming pool in Bob Hope’s house when [Marco Antonio] Barrera was up in the mountains training. And he’s saying, ‘Yeah, I don’t have to do this.’ There was nobody around him to say, ‘What are you doing?’ It’s the same with a lot of modern fighters now.”

The earnings for top-tier boxers today are higher than ever, and Nelson is pleased that Joshua has amassed enough wealth to comfortably retire from the sport. However, there’s a lingering question as to why Britain’s former golden boy hasn’t fully realised his potential, with some suggesting that those in Joshua’s circle may share some responsibility.