We will find out when he's in a dog fight. He has not been matched poor though. he's been through some good journeymen, and is set for his first crossroads fight against Whyte in Dec. Right on track if you ask me. He just needs those tests so we can see what kind of resolve he has.
Dillian proved he can fight fire with fire. A very important attribute. AJ has yet to show me he can do that.
He's being brought along at a decent pace so far. He's fought a durable gate keeper in Johnson and crushed him and now he's facing Whyte. Whyte is similar to when Fury first fought Chisora, a relatively unknown undefeated fighter on domestic level who could test him. It's an appropriate level of opponent at this stage. If he gets past Whyte as I expect the next year is when he really needs to raise his game and start positioning himself higher up the rankings for a title shot in 2017. But I am getting ahead of myself, he still has a lot to prove yet, at this moment in time he could be just as easily an Audley as a Lewis.
He's on the right track, commonwealth champ by fight 14, all going well, British by fight 15 and I would assume European by fight 18. Is he the real deal? As others have said we won't know until further down the line. I would state at this stage he's clearly above 'British level' assuming of course we rate the likes of Tyson Fury as world level despite being British. It all reminds me of David Price though...
All Whyte proved to me is he gets hit too much, lucky he wasn't fighting AJ otherwise he would be sparked out inside 3 rounds, Minto is a blown up cruiserweight who has been stopped quickly twice before, Joshua's "fire" is a lot hotter than Minto's.
Minto's fastest and worst career stoppage came against Whyte. And Whyte didn't even train or sparr for a guy like Minto. He just went in and winged it.
He appears to have all the attributes however need to see him pushed and taken past 3 rounds. Don't know if Whyte is the man for the job though. He was eating clean right hands on Saturday from a slow cruiser.
He hasn't fought anyone yet. I don't think that's too bad in only 14 fights. It seems bad because he's been given a world ranking and people talk as if he's a contender. Then again, Tyson Fury managed to become mandatory challenger hardly fighting anyone, and Wilder's a "champion" for f**ks sakes ! So I guess Joshua just carries on doing what he's doing, knocking over bums, and he'll be ok.
All hype for the moment. Looks decent though, obviously is addicted to the gym which will have initial success but he's training to be a bodybuilder rather than a boxer in my opinion. He could be a world beater or another David Price/Audley Harrison.
I like him and rate him highly as far as HW prospects with big potential for the future go. Him and Joseph Parker are the most promising ones in the division, IMO. That said, he hasn't fought anyone yet. His opposition so far has been decent for a fledgling pro at the start of their career but he hasn't been in there with anyone who posed him a threat or who can or has been able to test his punch resistance. Granted he's looked very impressive blowing them out for the most part but he still has a lot to prove, especially regarding his chin and stamina. He was badly hurt and stopped in the amateurs. Now whilst he has obviously improved a lot since then, and he clearly has, that was with headgear and big gloves on and he's going to be facing bigger punchers in the future than the guy who stopped him who are also going to be wearing smaller gloves too.
Whyte appears to have very heavy hands and he's definitely capable of testing his chin, should he be able to catch him with something.
I genuinely hope he's the real deal. He's a charming guy with good height, reach, fitness, power and style. It's the chin and heart you have to worry about and I don't mean the heart to fight, but the heart to survive something and continue on instinct. So far I think his opponents have been picked well, they're not rushing him but he's also fought some decent opponents for this stage of his career like Johnson. From watching Whyte and Joshua on Saturday, one thing's for sure, if they both fight the same way again Whyte is in for a world of hurt.
