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

Joshua landed some excellent punches and finished the fight with a classic KO punch but, honestly, he looked no different to me than the Joshua that was KO'd by Ruiz.
There was no evident improvement whatsoever.
Which is worrying and a bit surprising.

Pulev looked no better than the slow old man I was expecting to see.

 

It’s worrying in the fact that he won’t have enough to beat Fury. But we all already know that anyway. He beats everyone else in the division and has done already.

 

Pulev was laughing at Joshua throughout.

He's also laughing his way to the Bank of Bulgaria this morning.

 

I can’t believe people say Wilder would beat Joshua, there’s not a chance. He’s levels above him and would spark him out.

Usyk is a different story. A man I picked to wipe the division originally but has flattered to deceive since moving up. His movement and intelligence could be too much for Joshua.

Fury - again see above. He’s got fantastic movement and intelligence, he’s massive and he’s the best about at the minute. However he can switch off and he can be put down. I’d make Fury definitely the favourite but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Joshua took him out.

 

I agree, I think Joshua knocks out Usyk, too big for Usyk's power. Against Wilder, I think it's a 50/50 though Joshua goes into it with the massive advantage when it comes to heart and mental strength and AJ loses to Fury, probably by stoppage.

 

Fairly good routine win. Wasn’t blown away by Joshua and feel he hasn’t had to answer any lingering questions from Ruiz 1 yet.

Just hope he fights Fury in the first half of 2021.

 

I thought it was a near perfect performance. Those expecting him to throw caution to the wind have no understanding of how wreckless that would be with literally hundreds of millions of pounds at stake in the next couple of years.

I thought he was the perfect hybrid of the old AJ who could afford to let his hands go against lower quality competition at the start of his career and the cautious AJ we saw against Ruiz last time out.

He took his time and hurt Pulev very badly with some great shots, while taking very little in return. That’s the name of the game.

 

He's already lost to Ruiz, who wasn't even being rated as a "top 10" heavyweight by most people at the time.
He shows no improvement on the fighter he was when he lost to Ruiz.
Joshua can beat all those other guys maybe, but he can lose to some of them too.
That's why I believe Hearn wants to throw him in with Fury next, if the sums add up. And in Saudi Arabia, I'm sure they do.

 

To say Wilder doesn't have a chance against Joshua is bold.

I wouldn't say Joshua is better boxer than Ortiz and he won every second of every round against Wilder until he got hit with a nuclear right hand as long as wilder has that freakish power anything is possible.

 

He looked the same as he did in the first Ruiz fight.
People have been moaning about him "not throwing caution to the wind" since after the Wlad fight. So, it's not something new.

Difference from the Ruiz situation is Pulev was too slow and predictable to make any impact.

 

He obviously does has a chance because of his power but I think 9/10 Joshua knocks him out and/or out boxes him.

 

There is not a chance if Joshua won't ever get in the ring with him.

 

I think thats more like Wilder wont get in a ring with him

 

I agree that they will never share a ring. Wilder’s days as a top three heavyweight are over. He’s not just a one dimensional fighter anymore, he’s also shown huge mental frailties. By the time the two AJ Fury fights are done Wilder won’t be a player in the division.

 

Pulev is an old man and doesn’t have the power to hurt anyone in the top tier, maybe 10 years ago Pulev may have pulled off a shock. So let’s not take anything from this apart from IMO both Fury and possibly Wilder beats Joshua today. Gonna put another name out there because I think Joshua won’t be able to suss him out but Joyce would be a nightmare fight for him and could be the biggest upset of the decade.