Now I don't understand how AJ came back after Wlad knocked him down

What don't you understand? Joshua is a hell of a fighter and not as glassy as people are now suggesting. Even Dubois, who is an extreme puncher, needed a good few rounds to finish him off, and he practically did it when he himself was hurt and staggering towards the ropes.

Joshua can weather a crisis. The bigger question they should answer as a team isn't how much Joshua can take, but "why is he taking it this way?"

This is the second fight where Joshua comes in and somehow manipulates the situation to get himself into catastrophic trouble.

They should try to fix what happens at the beginning of these fights, because neither Prenga nor Dubois should be hitting him with such punches from the start.
It's as if Joshua has no idea how to act at the beginning of the fight, and only a bucket of ice water reminds him where he is, what he has to do, and what a skilled boxer he is.
This is strange because this didn't happen before, or at least wasn't as obvious.

 

AJ was also just 27 years old and had the confidence that being unbeaten brings.. Natural physical decline as he approaches 40 and the PTSD of past defeats have all taken their toll.

 

That was almost 10 years ago lol

 

Quite easy to understand really
He had an average chin that got broken at some point
Now he has practically no chin

 

Younger man Vs older broken man

 

He was smiling after Prenga took him down because he knew the fight was fixed...

 

^This^
The hate on AJ from insecure nerds is weird, he’s a lot better fighter than he gets credit for. AJ’s game plans are questionable, his heart and skill is not.

 

You don't understand why a 26 year old boxer had better punch resistance than his currently decade older, much more shopworn 36 year old self? Wtf are you talking about

Edit; How are there so many morons here? You people are talking as if AJ is still in his prime and if it's a complete mystery as to why he's been trash for the past several fights.

Anthony Joshua hasn't defeated a top 10 ranked contender since the 2010's ffs. He's completely shot and should retire immediately after he cashes in on his last fight.

 

AJ has seemed broken since Andy Ruiz beat him. Ever since then he’s been more tentative, more cautious and much easier to knock down.

 

His entire philosophy altered after undergoing this experience which I feel he found both exhilarating and traumatic. He said something like I never want to be in a war like that again and with the physical gifts he relied on and the seek and destroy programming, it probably caused some form of confusion in what kind of fighter he wanted to develop into. He had an amazing career overall but you do think he lacked the necessary guidance in some respects, would a trainer like Emmanuel Steward have got a different tune out of him for example? That’s a once in a lifetime kind of trainer though not everyone is that lucky. You listen to him these days and he embraces the danger and risk and going down in shoot outs and he seems a lot more chilled with it, if you’re boxing you’re going to get in a war sometimes it’s just how it is.

 

1) Vitali told Wlad to take his foot off the gas and pace himself after the knockdown, and Wlad foolishly listened to him
2) Wlad was 41 years old and inactive for 18 months, against an undefeated champion coming into his prime

People seem to think this is still a good version of Joshua who's about to get into the ring with Fury, when in reality, current 2026 Joshua is barely even the fighter he was 4 years ago, let alone his 2018 prime

 

Joshua was younger and had taken less punishment
Look at Whyte earlier in his career. Incredibly durable