I'd STILL Pick Deontay Wilder To KO Anthony Joshua...

Why would anyone talk about rematch, when this was the rematch of a fight Wilder clearly lost the first time around, but he was gifted a draw ??!!!!
Its obvious that Wilder can`t box. If you look the fight carefully, Fury was open for a lot of right hand or counter punches. But for that you need proper skill set and timing. Every time Fury was going to do 1-2 i see it before he do it, because of his front foot stepping.
This was Tony Bellew tactic against Usyk, to counter him, everytime he goes on the front foot.
The only thing that Wilder have in his arsenal is his raw power right hand and he is able to land it constantly against B and C level fighters.
But the guy has not even have proper skill, technique and timing to do it. He is been able to hold for that belt, because he is allowed and they manage to dodge every dangerous fighter out there.
No technique, no skill, no good movement, no head movement, no good timing, no feints, just 1-2, that works against B and C level fighters.

 

I agree that AJ has to be the favorite given what just happened and given how often Wilder has been outboxed. That said, I disagree about the strategy of AJ. If he were to fight Wilder I'd expect him to approach Wilder as he did the Ruiz rematch by using his skills and his footwork rather than giving up his advantages by engaging in a war with Wilder and try to take Wilder out of there early. I mean you just said quite accurately that the reason why AJ should be favored is because he has the better skillset. But then you say it would be wise for AJ to abandon that skillset by getting into a war with Wilder early?

Both Wilder and AJ surely have stamina problems, and in AJ's case particularly slows down after absorbing punches, and I think that's what makes it an interesting matchup, but I think it would be very unwise for AJ to not be cautious early on vs Wilder. That one punch devastating KO can happen early on or it could happen late. Now I get what you're saying in the sense that if you let Wilder hang around he could end up with late KDs like what happened to Fury in the first match with Wilder, but if you get into a toe to toe war with Wilder early, you also run the risk of getting hurt which as we seen vs Ruiz and vs Wlad can really slow AJ down pretty quickly which takes him rounds to recover. And you might not have that kind of time to recover like he vs Wlad if Wilder has him in trouble he can finish you quickly.

If AJ fought Wilder I would fully expect him to employ an ultra-cautious gameplan like he did in the Ruiz rematch, to outbox Wilder put rounds in the bank and basically use his skills and his jab to keep Wilder at a distance.

 

AJ can't fight like he did vs ruiz against wilder, and I don't think we can say he has wilder's card based on fury's performance yesterday.

Fury is longer, stronger and tougher than wilder, plus a genius boxer. That negates Wilder's style, which needs him controlling the distance.

AJ on the other hand doesn't have those physical advantages that Fury has, so if he tries fighting at a distance he falls into Wilder's range, and if he risks going to war then he doesn't have the chin, toughness or stamina of Fury.

I saw it as 50/50 before yesterday, but 60/40 in AJ's favour now.

 

OK yeah that makes sense, so you're saying that AJ should basically take Fury's blue print that he used to stop Wilder and try to do the same thing to Wilder. Stay in range walk him down etc.

I think the problem there is that Wilder could be a much better version of himself and could be much more confident in terms of landing a big shot on AJ vs Fury. So AJ coming at him might not work like it did for Fury. I think both gameplans have their advantages and disadvantages but the worry to me from AJ's perspective is that he's been known to keep his hands down for too long and not block upstairs. Whether at distance or not all it takes it one moment of keeping his hands down for Wilder to knock him the hell out. And he doesn't have the inside fluidity or upper body movement of Fury to slip punches. Many times AJ is too upright and pulls back straight away which is tailor made for a well timed Wilder right hand that could send AJ flat on his back.

I really have my doubts about whether AJ can hurt or stop Wilder like Fury did. Then again I had my doubts about Fury's ability to stop Wilder so what do I know lol. But I do think he can outbox him. But it seems to me that Fury is a far more versatile fighter than AJ and can adjust and has better instincts. I mean you look at Fury vs Wlad then compare it to AJ vs Wlad. Fury won every round vs Wlad easily whereas AJ went life and death with an older Wlad.

I couldn't imagine Fury struggling with Andy Ruiz like AJ did. At the same time there's a difference between a motivated Fury and less than peak Fury that can be caught and dropped like how he was in the first Wilder match. What makes Heavyweight boxing so fascinating is that you never know which version of these guys is going to show up so literally anything can happen if Wilder and AJ fought.

 

Deontay only needs one trick to beat the bodybuilder though. It might not work on somebody with a elite defense like Fury. But Joshua is very hittable. He was tagged a few times by that 20 stone blob, but fatso was too exhausted to follow up.

 

AJ has enough power in his jab to hurt Wilder

 

I've always had a pretty consistent view on the 3.

Fury is all wrong for Joshua, his movement would be Joshua's undoing.

Fury struggles the most with Wilder because of his awkwardness, speed and explosiveness, he can hit you out of the blue with a bomb. But Fury 2nd time around adjusted and took that big right hand out of the equation by closing the distance, giving Wilder few opportunities to land it.

Joshua is all wrong for Wilder. He'd take Wilder out faster than Fury did, he'd use similar tactics, establish the jab, push him onto the back foot where Wilder can't load up the right hand, counter the wild swings and then get inside and dominate. I'm not sure Wilder gets out of the 3rd round vs Joshua. Fury fought more like Joshua usually does last night that he normally does, what do you think a harder hitting fighter using similar tactics does to him?

 

I agree. I think AJ is all wrong for WIlder, he has power in a variety of punches, from his jab to his uppercut and I just don't see how Wilder can avoid getting buzzed early

 

It's debatable if the bodybuilder really has more power than Fury. Tyson usually fights defensive and cautious, Tyson would probably have a higher KO ratio if he used that seek and destroy approach. Joshua doesn't have the boxing intelligence and the speed to do what Fury did. He'd be caught like the blob fight.

 

I don't think it's debatable at all and this is coming from a guy that picks Fury to beat AJ.

Fury has decent power, he's never been feather fisted, but he's not a one punch KO artist either. He's more of an accumulative puncher. Heavy handed enough to hurt you but not powerful enough to blast you out.

Joshua in contrast while may not have the power of Wilder but he hit's fricken hard. He stops guys like Johnson who never been stopped before, he sparked Whyte out and we've seen Whyte take bombs and get back up. Joshua is the bigger puncher that isn't up for debate.

Whyte hits harder than Fury for example. He KO'ed Chisora, while Fury beat up Chisora worse but retired in his corner, he wasn't KO'ed.

 

Wilder is a fraud, he’s done, one decent name on his resume and he fails against the first top heavyweight.

 

I agree. Wilder is faster than Joshua and he should be able to land his straight right hand on AJ.

 

Joshua’s a come forward fighter. The Ruiz fight has somehow swayed people to think otherwise. He’s not a full blown pressure fighter, but he regularly presses.

Wilder submits ground very easily, as shown in a lot of his fights.

My opinion remains the same. Joshua outboxes him and KO’s him, or outboxes him and gets KO’ed. One thing is certain; Wilder is getting outboxed either way. Tonight just makes me lean towards Joshua just that little bit more, because he will pressure Wilder.

 

Joshua is no master boxer though. He's a level below Wlad, and a second level below Fury. He's not going to be able to go 12 rounds on the outside like Fury did without getting caught. He's very much like Wilder a big tall guy relying on his athleticism. The ring IQ disparity between Joshua and Wilder is a lot less than Fury and Wilder. I watched those 2 fights with Andy the blob Ruiz, and that speed and huge power he once had is not there. He did enough but it weren't a Fury and Wlad masterclass, or a Lewis Tua dismantling.