Sky Sports pundits Johnny Nelson and Carl Froch say Anthony Joshua’s weight is no cause for concern ahead of his title defence against Carlos Takam on Saturday night.
Joshua weighed in at 18st 2lbs on Friday, topping his previous high of 17st 12lbs, and over a stone heavier than his opponent.
The Brit says he is starting to ‘fill out’ and Nelson does not think the extra weight will hinder Joshua when he defends his titles for the fourth time against Takam at the Principality Stadium.
“Heavyweights they say they mature when they get to their late 20s, 30s,” said Nelson.
“I think Anthony Joshua is the new breed of fighter. He is tall, he doesn’t look heavy – we looked at him and he looked slim, he looked on point.
“He has just filled out a little bit. He is a young man growing up and I think he will now settle into being a comfortable 18st heavyweight.
“He was conscious of being too heavy for the last fight, so he thought ‘I will consciously be gym fit between fights’.
“Now he got training for this, and this is his natural weight.”
And Froch pointed out that Joshua’s trainer Rob McCracken would not allow his charge to climb into the ring in anything other than peak physical shape.
Froch said: “When you look at [Joshua’s] body and you look at his physique, and you see how he trains and how he performs in sparring in the gym, he ticks all the boxes,
“And if you are looking after Joshua like Rob McCracken is, I don’t think you are concerned about the weight.”
