Dillian Whyte believes Anthony Joshua has retirement on his mind

Dillian Whyte believes Anthony Joshua has fallen out of love with the sport of boxing, at least judging by his change of behaviour in the ring. 

Joshua is on the cusp of setting up a superfight against fellow Brit Tyson Fury to unite the heavyweight division, with Fury’s promoter Bob Arum stating he is ’95 per cent confident’ of a deal being reached for the fight to take place this year.

However, Whyte has voiced his concern about his former nemesis AJ, suggesting he does not have the look of someone with his heart still in the sport.

‘Maybe he’s comfortable, maybe his drive and desire is going down,’ he told Sky Sports.

‘He seems to be fighting a lot more defensively than he used to do. Maybe he’s thinking, “You know what, I haven’t got long left, it’s a hard game”.

‘When you achieve everything you’ve set out to achieve and you’ve got lots of money, sometimes you think, “You know what, let me just retire and go and do something else”.

‘He doesn’t strike me as someone who loves fighting. He loves the business and he loves the opportunities.’

Joshua has been described by the magazine Forbes as a ‘marketing juggernaut’ and has more than 12 sponsors, with Under Armour and Beats named named among them. 

He recently admitted that he feels he is closer to the end of his career, than the beginning.   

‘This isn’t the start of my career. I’m coming towards the end of my career,” Joshua said.

‘I’m not someone who lives in the moment and thinks that everything is just like for now. I’m always planning ahead so I’m coming towards the end of my career.’