Why Anthony Joshua might be just about coming into his prime

He was in there with a novice. A guy that punches really hard and that was it. Yet this “prime” Joshua got dropped twice and held in for dear life. If that is a measuring stick for prime I’d say he should be in the talk of greatest ever.

 

Fury will **** AJ up mentally. The fight will be won before a punch is thrown.

 

Fury has also taken flush shots from Wilder and kept going, took a monstrous barrage from Usyk and managed to go the distance and has never actually been stopped in the ring. AJ can whack sure, but Fury has a solid set of whiskers and probably the best recovery powers in the division. Maybe AJ lands a shot or two, but I don't think it's going to be enough to get Fury out of there and Fury will make AJ pay for the shots he does land.

The way some people act you'd think Fury was a featherweight. He's nearly 300lbs, he is capable of putting AJ on his ass.

A stick and move strategy may have worked earlier in their careers, but after seeing AJ against Prenga I think the march forward and bully approach may be more beneficial here. Remove AJs ability to set himself up and he will fall apart rather quickly.

Prior to this fight I'd think this approach would have been insanity. Now? It appears that the blueprint to beating Wilder is also applicable to AJ in his current state.

 

Dubois threw himself at Joshua and KO'd him. Joshua's defense was horrible that night. It wasn't so much his chin.

 

AJs defense appears to have gone out the window over the past few years. Even Jake Paul managed to land clean on him. Chin or no chin, that's not something you can really afford to sustain at heavyweight.

Not something you want issues with when you're about to square off against Fury either imo. He'll be landing at will, roughing him up on the inside and walking him backwards all over the ring to lean on him at the ropes until AJ either gasses or gets knocked out by a surprise punch.

 

Hilarious

 

Just so I'm clear....Joshua is far past his prime, has no defence and is very very easy to hit clean.
Could you explain then why he is "Mentally Weak"?
It takes bigger balls to get in the ring when you're expected to lose, than when you're expected to win.

AJ's career choices prove he isn't "Mentally Weak", he's fought the best opponents he could regularly....The fact he's back in the ring 7 months after the near fatal accident which killed two of his closest friends proves that. If anything, that would entitle him to blow up to 350 pounds and binge on alcohol and drugs. But that's what a "Mentally Weak" man would do.

He's just lacked the skills at the Elite level, no shame in that. He's the 3rd best HW of his Era but with the 2nd best resume, so he's overachieved if anything.

 

Where in my post did I say that mate?

 

They both stink, both can hit the deck, im picking the guy who can still whack and finish a fight. AJ inside 5.

 

I'm picking the guy who can actually box and didn't almost get KO'd in the first round against his tune up. Fury inside 6 in a rather one-sided affair.

Hopefully the fight is more competitive than either of our predictions lol

 

Tbh Fury stopping him early is looking more and more realistic.

 

Many have hypothesised Fury having Joshua’s measure for years now but still, they’ve yet to meet in the ring to actually sort it out.

As to the degree of deterioration in Joshua’s chin, it obviously also depends on how you rate the power of the initial uppercut - it seems many don’t rate it too highly.

To me the uppercut didn’t seem particularly hard but Joshua’s head was being held at the same time - a little trick practiced previously by fighters like Shavers and Lewis.

The perception of Fury’s recuperative powers should also factor in and be qualified by several instances in which Tyson was afforded a whopping 23 secs from KD to wave back on.

After Joshua first went down, only 13 secs elapsed before the fight was waved back on. Basically, standard.

AJ’s path/means to ultimate victory against Fury might be relatively that much more narrow but if successful it would require that much less maintained discipline and effort than conversely required of Fury to secure his own, ultimate victor

Even before facing Usyk, Fury had his own and death battle against a boxing novice in Francis Ngannou that went the full distance.

Despite Ngannou obviously carrying very good power, the current resilience of Fury’s as at that time was heavily questioned.

 

Yes. He displayed fortitude and courage. He's going to be the best heavyweight for years to come.