Fighting a southpaw is never easy. Lennox Lewis never fought a quality one, Wlad got handled by Sanders. How will AJ do post Usyk? Where does he go from here? I wouldn't take a rematch right away if I was him. His confidence has to be shaken and he looked awfully slow against the quickness of Usyk. However, he is only 31 not old by today's standards. Can he rebuild? What path should AJ take? Should he just retire?
No, he got completely out-thought and out-fought. He simply doesn’t have the boxing iq to compete with Usyk. A rematch would go even worse for him. He’s still a very good fighter, and one of the legitimate top three in the division though. He’d still smash Wilder if they ever fought, and fights against Whyte, Joyce and the like should favour him. But his confidence will have been badly shaken by that loss. There was literally nothing he was doing that was having any sort of concerted success.
I don't think so because his physical flaws to use a better style in order to beat Usyk isn't possible anymore. He needs to be more explosive and make it a dog fight with Usyk and he won't do that because he doesn't trust his chin or legs. I think he's lost a step in his movement because he looks a bit slower and he's also less explosive coming in with jabs and uppercuts. He doesn't do that anymore and might not be able to anyway against Usyk because Usyk has superior skills and movement over him. A trainer can't help him much now because of his build and orthodox boxing style won't help him transfer over to a more quicker reacting, explosive style you need to beat Usyk with. Joshua needs to come out of the gate faster without depleting his stamina so much. I don't think he can do that.
Wlad dominated southpaws, he would’ve beaten Usyk. As for Joshua, I think he should retire. The bad habits are too deeply ingrained in muscle memory to be erased and he’s now clearly very averse to getting hit. He’s a basic fighter with a very limited skill set . He’s made a lot of money in the sport and had a decent little career, now is a good time to bow out with his health and dignity intact.
Nah, Usyk boxes circles around Wlad,just like he did in sparring. Wlad fought static small heavyweights for 90% of his career
Despite his size and strength Joshua isn’t really a physical type of fighter. He’s an orthodox box behind the jab and counter punch type of guy. He can brawl a bit, but he can’t really wrestle and maul the way a Fury or even a Whyte or Chisora can do. That’s just not how he’s wired up. I don’t think he’s lost a step. I just think that was an awful style matchup for him. Put him in against a more orthodox opponent and he’ll look good again. When you’re fighting someone with so much movement and ring iq it’s easy to look timid and like you can’t pull the trigger. Joshua was just mentally out-thought and that impacted every other aspect of his game.
He’s to chinny which makes him fight even more tentative the Wlad and that’s not going to help him because Wlad was a technically better fighter and had better ring iq. If he doesn’t make some drastic changes to his camp and his style he’s all but done.
That was Joshua trying to box last night, trying to use a bit of head and waist movement, and he was still being tagged from the opening 10 seconds and looking as stiff as a lamppost I wouldn't be so sure. I know that it's a different matchup, but he's always going to be the type of guy who's susceptible to being hit to the head and that could be a Wilder right hand. His chin is nowhere near good enough to be able to withstand that.
He bounced back before. I do get the impression that he sticks strictly to the gameplan of his trainers, while greater fighters will change their gameplan if they start losing. It's not uncommon for an inferior fighter to beat a superior one with the right tactics employed. Joshua was playing to Usyk's strengths, not backing him up, and setting up inside hook attacks. Usyk jabs with a higher volume of punches that Joshua couldn't match. I do think he has to be in that frame of mind of taking punishment to get in on the inside. This isn't a big puncher he's in there with. He wouldn't be able to walk a Ruiz or a Chisora type fighter down in the first 3 rounds without getting caught with a big shot. But I do think he could get away with it against Usyk, if he actually starts moving his head a bit more, and starts pressing the action. This type of fight, would suit Joshua more if he comes in heavy with a muscle bound physique again. But to me, it's a fight where Joshua wins only by stoppage, he's not going to win by points, because Usyk lands too many punches. Make it a tear up.
Yes, I wouldn’t totally rule Wilder out, but Joshua would have no issues controlling the tempo and shape of that fight, and that gives him the ability to land his best shots without fear. And Wilder’s chin is nowhere near good enough to be able to withstand that.
First of all Wladimir Klitschko is the most overrated Boxer but Joshua will not repeat the success of Klitschko. He is not as lucky as Klitschko was. 1. Emanuel Steward was available , one of the best Trainers of all time. Today the good coaches are dying out or are not available. 2. the most dangerous boxer , except him , was his Brother , so these two never fought. He would have had no chance to defend the title for so long because Vitali was better. 3. Worst competition in Heavyweight History And there was almost no dangerous Puncher, except Sanders and Vitali. Everyone knows the result. Sanders knocked him out easy and his Brother had to take over which is also a rarity in boxing history. No Joshua is done even if he beats Usyk , which I highly doubt , then Fury will beat him as often as he wants.
Is there a heavyweight rematch where the superior skilled boxer didn’t do BETTER the second time around? I’m honestly drawing blanks here. I see Ali-Frazier II, Holyfield-Bowe II, Holyfield-Tyson II, Joshua-Ruiz II, Fury-Wilder II…. History doesn’t seem to bode well for Joshua in a rematch here, IMO