Carl Froch believes Anthony Joshua's rematch win against Andy Ruiz Jr was "meaningless", stating the heavyweight champion still has serious weaknesses.
The Brit lost his IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO titles to Ruiz Jr in a devastating seventh-round knockout defeat in June 2019.
Joshua avenged his defeat with a cautious but classy unanimous points decision later in the year to regain his status as unified heavyweight world champion.
The 30-year-old is due to face mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev at Tottenham Hotspur stadium next.
However, with the coronavirus pandemic forcing a delay, promoter Eddie Hearn insists a highly anticipated bout with Tyson Fury may edge closer.
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Froch - speaking in an interview with IFL TV - insisted a winner between the two remains a difficult call, but is backing Fury due to Joshua's brutal initial defeat.
"Who’s the number one heavyweight?" Froch pondered. "If I had to pick one I’d probably say Tyson Fury and that’s just because I think he’s probably a 55/45 favourite.
"It’s almost an even-money fight and I’d edge towards Fury just because of how AJ got dismissed by Ruiz.
"He got beat up in that first Ruiz fight and that’s a bad chink in his armour, a real bad one.
"The avenged rematch doesn’t mean anything because of how the fight went and the state Ruiz turned up in: 20 stone; slow, a slob; lazy.
In Pictures | Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr | 01/06/19
"Fair play to him, he did the job; I’m not criticising him. But it wasn’t the kind of fight that makes you think AJ’s back.
"He’s back from a bad beating. And that’s the only fight he’s had since a bad beating: a non-fight.
"Since he got beat up I’ve not seen anything that’s told me he’s back to what he used to be."
