Do you think Alexander Povetkin's feints are going to cause huge problems / troubles for Joshua?

One EXTREMELY underrated part of Alexander Povetkin's boxing skill-set, is his elite and unique ability to feint, in order to set his punches up.

In contrast, Anthony Joshua rarely, if ever feints. It seems like he either hasn't fully learnt, and / or developed this particular skill. Or, his physique being so muscular and bulky, doesn't allow him to do so.

In fact, Anthony Joshua's feinting skills, among the top boxers today in ANY division, MIGHT even be the ABSOLUTE worst. So much for Anthony Joshua's HIGH level / ELITE boxing skills!

Take a look here at Povetkin vs Price, to see a excellent display of feinting skills by Povetkin. The feinting is done with most of the body. Head feints, hand feints, foot feints, shoulders feints and etc.

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If you notice very carefully, even the knockout punch by Povetkin was actually set up by a feint. He was going downstairs and established that rhythm, getting Price to get used to that rhythm. And when he did, Povetkin feinted to the body and launched an overhand right which put Price into ***** street, setting up the KO!


In contrast, this is Anthony Joshua against Joseph Parker:

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And this criticism can be applied to Anthony Joshua for his performances in many other fights too. One if, IF not his biggest weakness is his lack of ability to feint and probe to set up his punches by getting his opponents out of position so he can land better quality punches at better openings. Instead, he just throws punches without PROPERLY setting them up first. That's why he has very little, to no concussive / clean knockouts, especially at a high level. Either that, or he GENUINELY lacks punching power / KO power. Or it's a combination of both!

It doesn't come as a surprise, nor is it by chance that Povetkin has far more HIGHLIGHT reel CLEAN / CONCUSSIVE knockouts compared to Anthony Joshua. There's no doubt in my mind that Povetkin is far more skilled than Anthony Joshua, at least as far as OFFENSIVE SKILLS are concerned.

 

No I don't think so unless AJ gets careless and does stupid stuff in the ring. If AJ stays out of range, uses his jab and fires out the occasional right hand he won't be touched.

 

There is an ASTRONOMICAL difference in SIZE, POWER and AGE. If Povetkin is not squashed like a BUG inside the first THREE rounds, I'm positively SURPRISED.

 

I'd like to see a text book move from Pov, feint, let roidhead throw and then counter hook, either left or right im not fussed...AND NEW HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD

 

AJ's jab isn't that good. He doesn't feint with the jab, and it's a very average jab at best.

 

In terms of boxing IQ I would definitely go with Povetkin. He’s arguably the best active heavyweight in this regard. His feints and counter punching are Joshua’s two main threats tonight in my opinion.

I get the sense that Joshua will want to close the show tonight, but as you’ve pointed out, he doesn’t have the best feints. So this means he’s either going to capitalise on counter punching, or simply try to open Povetkin up with barrage of shots. Both can be dangerous for Joshua, given Povetkin’s skill set.

 

I’m a fan of Joshua’s, but I’d have to agree. It’s more of a raking jab, as appose to a snapping jab. Given his range, and knowing when to us it makes it effective though.

 

I think one of Joshuas biggest weaknesses is that he seems to have a blind spot to punches coming up and from wide and thats exactly what Povetkin does best. Im sure both camps know this and have been working hard to work on it but if Joshua doesnt keep focus some could slip through and then there could be trouble.

 

Good post by OP. Povetkin is probably the best active heavyweight right now in terms of skills which is why I give him a decent chance at the upset. Wlad actually somewhat suited Joshua because Wlad is not a very fluid or creative fighter compared to Povetkin.

Madballster is likely right in that AJ will try keep it at distance and wear Povetkin out safely. If Povetkin can cause AJ to misread something he could well catch him hard. I'm hoping for it but Joshua has good skills himself and very fast reflexes. Feints may be negated by the speed AJ can snatch his noggin out of range.

I actually think that AJ will win this on points and I suspect that by round 8 AJ will be blowing hard. The last rounds will be interesting. I like that Povetkin has come in very light for this.

 

This. Considering his fellow countryman Bruno had an excellent jab I'm surprised McCracken hasn't brought Bruno in to help Joshua sharpen up his jab, which at the moment is really lacking. If Joshua had a jab like Bruno's he would've made short work of Takam and Parker. Joshua also needs to be more efficient with his footwork and punches. Joshua almost paid the price against Wlad due to his poor ring efficiency. Povetkin being a seasoned vet like Wlad is going to try and exploit the same weakness.

Even Archie Moore had the good sense to bring in Joe Louis to sharpen up Foreman's uppercut for his fight against Frazier.

 

Povetkin is not Kevin Johnson you'll be SURPRISED to hear.

 

There was a similar difference in age and size between Takam and Joshua but we didn’t see Joshua blast out Takam, he needed a British stoppage.

 

You don't need a world-class jab to trouble Povetkin. He took jabs from Huck and Price all night.

 

Nonsense! Price BARELY landed many jabs on Povetkin in the course of 5 rounds. I can barely even count on one hand, the amount of clean, flush and head snapping jabs Price landed on Povetkin in 5 rounds. And Povetkin had very little troubles with Price's jab, as he got into range time after time with ease.

Povetkin made Price miss most of his jabs by mere inches.

As for Huck, Povetkin came into that fight at his absolute worst shape of his career. He had changed his trainer and his coaching team. That affected Povetkin's conditioning, but he still found a way to win. We can't use that version of Povetkin to establish how a more prepared Povetkin would perform.

And Joshua's jab is simply not even close to prime Wladimir Klitschko's jab.

 

Povetkin had no trouble with Price's jabs because they have zero snap in them; not because Povetkin has amazing reflexes. Price is probably one of the worst jabbers in the HW top 250 and he did land on Povetkin. That tells you all you need to know.

The RBR will be so predicable tonight: "Why doesn't Povetkin use head movement to avoid AJ's jabs?"