Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua vs. Jermaine Franklin & Austin Williams vs. River Wilson-Bent RBR.

Now I want to see big baby Miller vs AJ. With his chin I think it would be solid fight and very good press conference

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I was out and about, did AJ serious not knock this guy out? What happened?

 

Right now Whyte looks like the next likely opponent, which is the fight this should have been. No idea why they picked a tricky unknown guy like Franklin (coming off an official loss) in the first place. You blow him away early big deal. You go the distance and struggle you get thrown to the wolves. No idea also why they had Joshua come in so heavy if the plan was to stick and move. That extra muscle mass is only an acceptable tradeoff if you're planning to bulldoze your opponent and end the night early, and Joshua doesn't look like he has the confidence to do that at this stage.

I don't think Joshua is finished off this performance. It was only his last fight before this where he looked as good as he ever did. Unfortunately it was against the consensus number 1 HW in the division and resulted in a loss, but few fighters have pushed Usyk that hard in his pro career; probably only one, Breidis. Rather, I think this was just a combination of nerves, a crappy gameplan, some bad luck (the possible broken nose early) and a really tricky negative opponent who happened to have a solid chin and wasn't afraid to stink up the joint.

If Fury offers him the fight (and isn't a Gypsy Queen about the purse splits) then Joshua should probably take it. He'd lose, but then he'd also lose against Joyce for a lot less money and against a guy a lot of people still don't seem to think is that good. Wilder is a fifty fifty and likely always will be due to Wilder's style, but f*** that guy. He never wanted any part of Joshua when both were on top, let him get taken to slick school by Usyk if he's' dumb enough to take that fight.

He beats Whyte, and that might be fun, and Dubois might also be a decent matchup now (though one I still heavily favour Juicy J to sweep). Outside of that though the options are a bit limited. Hrgovic? Zhang? Makhmudov?

 

You are very bad at scoring fights then

 

How's that Franklin took the centre of the ring and controlled the pace early on in the fight and he was getting off more than AJ was.

 

He was just too reluctant given that Franklin has good head movement but still, AJ was slow to non existent on the trigger when there were opportunities. He also looked bulky. He also wrestled instead of fighting often.

 

No, mate. He made very hard work of it. AJ was very tentative overall. Zero dog or confidence

You'll have to watch the replay when you get time.

 

LoL everyone was predicting a early ko for AJ pre fight in this forum

 

It was a dull Wlad-esque performance where Joshua was more content to hang back, peck away with a probing jab and the occasional straight right hand, and clinch up whenever Franklin closed distance (though Franklin was also guilty in this regard). Franklin for his part lacked the aggression or determination needed to win a fight against a Joshua fighting like this, but had enough of a chin and defensive nous to avoid taking any really big shots that might have put him down. If you've seen any Franklin fights before you'd have known this would have likely been a frustrating night unless Joshua was really up for it, which it didn't look like he was.

 

Then they're fools. And BTW:

How bout that?

 

good read.

 

I wouldn't even go as far to say it was a dull Wlad-esque performance....

Even when Wlad fought this type of negative fight he at least had confidence and self believe that he was winning every round. Wlad was for the most part, always in full control, AJ, tonight wasn't. No way....

And if AJ simply wasn't up for it, in making a positive statement after two back to back losses then that tells us everything.

No way did AJ cruise to a win tonight.

At times I thought he wasn't even there tbh.

What's next for him do you think?

 

Because the most weak-minded heavyweight of all time blatantly ducked the contracted rematch.

 

Whyte I believe. That's the fight I'd target if I were him at any rate.

 

Yeah, I think that makes sense.

I'm pretty sure Whyte would be up for it after tonight.

Both fighters to me have declined somewhat but that would be a good Brit dust up.

As of now I'm not sure who wins though!