Did AJ look bad to get the Fury fight?

Don't think so.

New trainer, mental scars that need embracing and overcoming, improvements to be made and shite habit to root out.

I still like his body work when he actually commits to it. He dropped a nice right hook to the body counter followed by a left hand that shook Franklin. Eddie Futch's favorite or so the story goes.

 

Maybe. But Tyson The Clever wouldn't fall for it, he has already fixed his eyes on his good old buddy Parker for his next friendly and safe fight.

 

I’m not so sure he’s that clever.

 

No way he tanked. That's silly.

Joshua needed a dominant KO performance to rebuild himself as an attraction, and he didn't get it. Fury isn't ducking him under any circumstances, regardless. Note: I am *not* defending Fury's behavior this year; he has been a disgrace.

 

No
AJ just looked bad compared to how he should have looked.

 

Didn't look like he was holding back. He was just very slow, very cautious and not very good.

 

AJ looks bad almost every fight

 

I'm not a huge fan of AJ, but I think that if AJ is serious about rebuilding, his performance vs Franklin was a really good start. He worked a lot on his footwork, jab, inside game, and parry game. Of course he's gonna looks bad. He was at a local maximum and changed some things up, so he definitely has to get worse before he gets better. I don't think he lost his combination game, I think he just decided to stick religiously to his gameplan (a round 1 knockout would have done nothing for him).

That being said, if he jumps into a Fury of Hrgovic or Joyce next, he would be cashing out because he has no chance. But if he fights a Whyte/Wallin level opponent for the next few fights, I'd be excited to see how far he can go.

 

He’s fought tentatively like that for his past 5 fights: Ruiz 2, Pulev, Usyk 1, Usyk 2, now Franklin

You think AJ has been pretending to be subpar since 2019 to get the Fury fight? That’s some dedication lol

 

Bismillaahhh!!!!

 

Joshua looked fine. He was just ironing out some kinks and putting himself back in the winning bracket. Franklin could have made a lesser opponent look clueless (see the Whyte fight) but Joshua being a cut above instead made Franklin look like the amateur.

So what he didn't drop the KO on Deontay Wilder's chubby mini-me? Franklin's tough and tricky. He got the job done. Mission accomplished.

 

AJ would get the Fury fight no matter how he looked!

 

He looked awful. Robotic, stiff, barely any upper body movement, flat footed, scared to let go and nothing flowing freely at all.