Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua, OBE vs. Kubrat Venkov Pulev & Martin Bakole vs. Sergey Kuzmin RBR.

It's interesting that AJ is adapting his style to avoid another defeat. But its arguably these changes which will be his downfall when he gets in with Fury.

 

It was a good win. Outboxing Pulev on the outside is much harder than doing it to someone like Ruiz. The only criticism with Joshua is he fights in spurts.

 

No way Wilder beats Joshua.

 

You wouldn’t put your house on it though. Ruiz has boobs but........

 

Ruiz beats Wilder.

 

It's incredible how people are so sure (are they really?) that Wilder loses to Joshua.

The same people use the Fury bouts as reference to why Joshua beats Wilder.

But Joshua isn't Fury.... What would Joshua do if Wilder hits him in the face with that right hand? He'd do a funny dance like that Pole against Okolie and that would be him finished for the rest of the night with Eddie Hearn sweating marbles ringside. The Sky (Sly) Sports Joshua empire crumbling on PPV before our eyes.

Wilder vs. Joshua is a 50/50.

 

I mean it’s even more incredible that some people here are sure that Wilder would beat AJ.
Their CVs are worlds apart from each other.

“But Joshua isn’t Fury” in relation to their chins - I wholeheartedly agree. Neither has the best chin but only one of them was dropped by a cruiserweight.

I accept that the last 12 hours have been tough for those that wanted AJ to lose, but there’s a lot of foolishness being spoken here today!

 

Joshua beats Wilder - Fury beats Joshua

Let's say for argument's sake Joshua forces Wilder to fight on the backfoot (which he will) thus nullifying his right hand, how do you see Wilder beating Joshua?

 

Joshua's CV is full of steady Eddie's. It's like Klitschko's reign full of old, short or blown up cruiserweights.

The truth is that in the heavyweight division there is a massive gap between someone ranked top 15 and someone in the top 3. Joshua's best win is still a 41 year old inactive Klitschko coming off a loss, who had already been brutally stopped 3 times in his career. He went life and death with that old man.

People who bring up the Cunningham fight don't like context or common sense. I think a lot of heavyweights with good chins would be knocked down by a man who has thrown the kitchen sink at you and hits you flush on the forehead, when you didn't see the punch coming. Fury was also knocked down by the legendary Neven Pajkic. But the truth is he gets back up and doesn't do a funny dance either.

Joshua must begin facing those who are currently viewed as the best of his era, not the nearly men (can you even call these puddings that?) of his era. Wilder, Fury and Usyk are the bouts I want to see all of these men engaged in. Nobody except rabid fanboys give a toss about a "deep" resume filled full of these "names" who are nothing more than dressed up puddings.

 

Of course he will. Joshua will not at all be afraid of being hit by that right hand. He won't be quaking in his boots. His footwork and ring generalship is such that Wilder will not have any openings whatsoever.

Come on.

I see it as a competitive bout and anyone who sees it as a foregone conclusion either way has an agenda.

I see it as a low volume, cagey affair until somebody gets clocked. Wilder has an underrated chin, though, and Joshua is an excellent dancer once he gets hit.

 

Excluding Wilder, who should he have faced?

 

Takam - overrated, been beaten several times and has no big wins.
Breazeale - absolutely useless at the top level.
Ruiz - had beaten nobody of note.
Parker - dodgy wins over Hughie Fury, Ruiz and Takam. Loses to Whyte.
Povetkin - a good, solid pro and has some good wins but has never held a heavyweight strap in his career and that speaks volumes. Short and old.
Martin - practically bought the belt off of him. Martin won his belt by Glazkov suffering a career ending knee injury in 2nd round. Farce.
Pulev - best win Tony Thompson aged 42.
Molina - "gave Wilder trouble for a few rounds" - absolute pudding and was KO'd by a post-prime Arreola.

A bunch of dressed up puddings. Basically a bunch of "good" but not great boxers. The only notable win is an old, inactive Klitschko who had already lost 4 times - winning at home in Wembley.

 

Boxing like a man who no longer believes in his chin.
Even Usyk ices him at this point.

 

Wilder would be more open than Joshua therefore he'll most likely gets to land his right hand first. Let's not underrate Joshua's power.

As we've seen time and time again it's never a foregone conclusion in heavyweight boxing. I don't have an agenda. I think Joshua is a good fighter, Wilder is average and Fury is elite.

As much as I'd like to see Fury fight Joshua, I'd still like to see Joshua fight Wilder and if he does beat Joshua then fair play. It's boxing, good on him.

 

a bunch of dressed up puddings is unfortunately the top 10/15.
Joshua can only beat what’s put in front of him, in a different era he may well struggle but right now guys like Parker are legitimate top 10 wins.

A lot of tripe is posted about Klitschko being old and finished but let’s be honest, he was the number 1 active boxer available at the time. Again that’s down to the era.

If Joshua was to spark Wilder out next fight the argument would be “Fury had already done him, he was finished from the Fury fight etc etc.”

Fury and Joshua are both brilliant talents of this current era and are levels above anyone else in the division bar maybe Usyk - where question marks still remain at HW.

It’s possible to like and rate both fighters without trying to belittle the other.

In terms of CV Fury has the best single win but in terms of depth Joshua’s is much deeper.

If they were to fight tomorrow I like many others fancy Fury as the favourite but Joshua is 100% a live dog in the fight.