AJ tactics All Wrong in my opinion

Big josh admitted he wasn’t prepared to leave it all in the ring against a cruiserweight with no kos at heavy. Josh said it himself postfight that he did everything he could in the gym, but if he had left it all in the ring he would have won.

hearns junior glitching out postfight back to the trusty old “breazeale Martin pulev takam” narrative but the facts are josh is 1-1 with an obese middleweight, 0-2 with a feather fisted cruiser, and has avoided the top two.

strip away all the packaging and his best win is Joey twelve Parker. Same as Whyteleafes best win.

 

It's not him. Whoring himself out in the US didn't do him any favours either. Garcia all wrong for him.

 

Joshua spoke afterwards about coming late to boxing and I think there's something in that. Nothing he does seems to come from muscle memory, you can see him consciously making adjustments as he fights. Both Usyk and Fury have a base style that is as natural as breathing to them - any adjustments they make to that are just deviations. Joshua's every move looks like it has to be thought about in the ring.

 

Still think Joshua should have came in at 250lbs. He was doing his best to match Usyk in the speed and stamina department, but it was evident that Usyk could outwork him from the first fight. Might have made him more vulnerable to gassing and getting stopped. But no version of Joshua is beating Usyk on points. This wasn't a case of making a couple of adjustments. Usyk comprehensively outboxed him the first time. Adding power onto his shots was vital for this fight. It wouldn't surprise me to see him bulk up again and start knocking guys out left and right.

 

18-stone Joshua vs any weight of Wilder is an entertaining scrap going no more than 7-8 rounds if that. Might even pay to watch it.

 

No I completely agree with you, I was just talking bout the narrative built before the fight.

 

It is a whole skill/art in itself to work in the clinch, smother, use the head and shoulders, tie their arms but work to free yours and land shots/elbows/anything etc like the likes of Andre Ward and Fury.

Joshua has never really had to do that in fights to my knowledge anyway so how was he going to suddenly know how to apply that kind of pressure? He's a puncher that sets his work up behind the jab and 99% of the time that's done the job. Just to add though, even if you do have them 'dark arts' skills, you have to have the gas tank and very high ring IQ to close down that distance with an elite fighter like Usyk.

 

100% the narrative that all AJ needs to do is use his size was hilarious. It's just not that easy to do.

 

If anything you can teach someone big to box, but you shouldn't teach someone to be big. If they can't work that out for themselves it's never going to get there.

 

What he should have done is come forward at every opportunity, really put it on Usyk, scare the smaller man, land at will until he can take no more. Come tho think of it why am I just saying this, I could do that, why am I sat here in front of a keyboard when I could have all but one of the belts and have Tyson Fury panicking, making statements not too dissimilar from the one I've just made?

 

Joshua isn't especially strong for a man his size and build. I said it on here the other day about the difference you can see when you compare him to other huge heavyweights like Lewis, Klitchko's and Fury when they use their size.

 

It’s easier said than done doing that against a guy who moves as quickly as Usyk does. Personally I thought Joshua did everything he could and couldn’t have done much more with his capabilities.

It’s easy to say let your hands go but in reality he could only do that when he caught Usyk with a decent shot having an effect on him.

 

Completely agree

For everyone saying he should have just bulldozed forward and let his hands go…. They need to realise its much easier said than done. Usyk is a special fighter.

 

I still think to beat usyk instead of trying to fight him head on. The answer was to reverse the role on him.

If you watch usyk....he pretty much turns the pressure on especially after you,ve turned the pressure on him. Hes a master at drawing punches and drawing you into a fight. Pretty sure the biggest part of the gameplan is to tire the opponent out. He,ll drop rounds if he can take your stamina from you as we,ve seen before.

You need to be conservative. Let usyk lead which hes happy doing....and fire after hes had some success. Without seeing all the fight i think joshua done it better last night....needed to do it more tho.

Pretty sure fury employed similar against wilder in the third fight. Put it on wilder straight after wilder finished punching. Depletes your stamina like nothing else.

Joshuas put a lot in to round 9. Then usyk comes out 10 and 11 and batters a depleted joshua. Pretty much showed the whole go out and put it all in was flawed from the start.

If you watch the bellew fight....bellew on the face off it put in a very competetive performance. The truth is usyk was just carrying out his ultimate gameplan which is to exhaust his opponent. In the end he put an exhausted bellew out easily. Their not looking that closely at scoring....they know if they can get the opponent working harder than they want to be working...they,ll get them in the end.

If you dont realise it....you wont beat him imo.

Go out and bash him up is pretty much playing into usyks hands.

 

Peter Fury (in Twitter) was demanding about AJs trainers and fact they blow smoke up his arse and are only in it for money.

Joshua was up against it because Usyk is better than him. I think he did improve against Usyk this time round,but was shocked he never attacked the body more from the get go. With his orthodox style Usyk can see and avoid the head shots easily.