In regards to the actual boxing watch the fight back. As @Twentyman said the traps and feints were there and the key shot for me was the left hook. From the first bell he’s setting up that left hook, yeah he missed it several times in the opening couple of rounds but he kept trying it and kept setting it up. I don’t think I’ve seen him throw that many left hooks before, it was clearly something they had worked on and eventually he threw the feint to the body and then caught him with that left hook it was beautiful.
The comparisons with Wilder are unfair imo. He didn't have huge backing out the gate like Joshua did. When he was at Golden Boy he was almost an afterthought for obvious reasons. Fact is they are both where they are now and we need that fight.
We do need the fight. More than ever. Joshua has basically swept clean the division and this is the defining fight. The backing boils down to Wilder. Why did he choose Golden Boy? What attitude and mentality was he showing. He was an Olympic Bronze medalist! He had the platform to go to the top. But it took him an age to get there. Joshua has done it whilst still learning. His physical attributes might have peaked but his mental attributes are just going to get better and better the more he fights. That was my point in the comparison. Wilder may have fought 40 bums but he’s learned from each and every one of those fights. Joshua is not the finished article.
I am on board. Povetkin was the first time I picked against him because he seemed to me to be very distracted, but I am glad that I was wrong. He is a fine champ.
Looked like he has gone backwards to me, style wise. Very cautious looking and nervy when throwing shots. The WK fight has given him his own number, and he won't get that no fear factor back now, but he knows he is one good combination away from oblivion, it's coming soon and he EH, RM, and matchbox know it too.
For me, it might be my favourite AJ performance. He's always worked hard on his technique and that has shown in past fights. But he also has looked abit repetitive in how he goes about his work and never had too much of a gameplan or thought about what he was doing. He looked like he was thinking in there on Saturday. He looked relaxed. He adapted and was setting traps. He consistently jabbed to the body, then when the time was right quickly followed it up with a fast straight right to the head which was the beginning of the end for Povetkin. He looked like he executed a great gameplan from where I was sat.
Enjoyed the main event (saved show tbh, undercard wasn't great). Povetkin started well, was a good start from him. Really strong finish from Joshua, he deserves praise for his response, as Povetkin did cause him problems.
The jabs to the body was key to understanding how AJ set up the finish. I have to give AJ a lot of credit here. He'd been probing povetkins defence here for a few rounds, he was trying to get pov to lower his lead hand, that's why we saw AJ shooting his right to povs body as well, he was timing pov as he stepped in, with his jab (AJs)to the body, then send a few right hands to the body, then bang, we saw the combo that was the beginning of the end for pov. Good work from AJ. For all Povetkins experience, he never caught on to what AJ was planning.
How do you know he didn't? I honestly can't tell if Wilder has been mishandled or well promoted, with his limited boxing ability you could argue for both.
This is irrelevant though. Literally means nothing. Sam Eggington has fought on massive cards in front of massive audiences. He’s boxed Malignaggi. That African lad who destroyed him fought on an actual wooden canvas in a high school gym (there is footage on Twitter) in one of his previous fights. As someone else pointed out, Wilder hasn’t had the fanfare and promotional gunfire behind him. Doesn’t mean anything, they are both good world champions with great qualities. I seriously don’t think Wilder is the type to freeze in front of 80,000+ fans in a stadium. The guy is a cold man.
Is it great boxing ability tho. He's sitting with every advantage under the sun. Massive height and reach advantage...being credited with hitting povetkin to the body as great boxing. He should be fighting tall. The reason he's not is because he doesn't have good enough boxing ability to pull it off. He's pretty well drilled Joshua. But I feel like with a lot of these guys the training camps are stopping them from being more naturally talented. Its all geared towards beating that next particular opponent. There's no real growth to it. Just working on nullifying the next opponent as opposed to learning the trade properly....so they can deal with every situation/styles. Fury can...or he could anyway. Larry Holmes. Lennox lewis etc. ATM. With Joshua its the power that's getting him through these fights. That's what makes me suspicious. Its like canelo at the weekend. Golovkins the much better boxer....looked a beast himself. Yet golovkin had to bite down on his gumshield to stand up to canelo. He was outgunned tbh. Fought his way back into the fight but all things don't look even to me. Same goes for Joshua. Whyte, povetkin and klitchko all would have beat him if that power was on the same level. He was terrible against whyte. Was being outboxed against klitchko till his power changed the fight. Being outboxed a bit against povetkin. Its the same with wilder....their too novice for the level their at. Both well drilled. But both still novice. Something doesn't quite add up for me. I m a Joshua fan tbh. I don't buy into the fake personality talk. He's a credit to the sport. Consistently takes on tough challenges. Got a great CV already. Is well drilled. Doing everything right in the game. Still can't help being slightly suspicious tho.
For a stiff, chinny robot with overrated power, limited boxing ability and no gas tank, Joshua is doing alright for himself.
