The Last Stand Of Dr. Steelhammer: Will AJ's Great Leap Forward Be A Bridge Too Far?

BlizzyBlizz · Apr 20, 2017

CST80 said: ↑

While I've made it no secret that I'm not the biggest fan of Anthony Joshua, that being said, I'm going to do my absolute best to be as objective as possible here. This is my fair and balanced assessment of how I think Wladimir Klitschko vs. Anthony Joshua may play out. I'll add one caveat, this is barring Wladimir coming to the ring an absolute shell of what he once was, a completely shot fighter whose reflexes and power have left him, if Wlad shows up that kind of shot, then AJ in all likelihood will steamroll Dr. Steelhammer. But this is what I see as the most likely scenario and outcome if anything close to the old Klitschko shows up and why.

Why No Styles Clash For AJ?
I'll concede AJ has looked like a one man wrecking crew thus far in his career, Hearn keeps stacking 'em up and he keeps knocking 'em down, he rolls over them like a humongous 6'6 bowling ball, but that's to be expected with the level of competition that's been put before him. Who has he faced that's really worth a damn? His first 10 opponents were by the numbers tin cans brought in as sacrificial lambs with a grand total of 92 losses between them. He did what he supposed to do and massacred them, proving he has around Adrian Granat level power. Then he took a slight step up in class in his next few matches from tin cans to low level journeymen, most looking to earn a quick paycheck with minimal punishment like Zumbano Love, Johnson and Gavern and an obviously chinny looking prospect in Cornish. He took them all out with relative ease using his patented pounce and flurry technique, because it had worked very well in his previous 10 matches.

Now ask yourself what style did any of his first 14 opponents bring to the table that would adequately prepare him for someone with a problematic style in the future? What has been learned? Absolutely nothing was gained from that bunch other than 14 successive flashy flurry, fighter stunned followed by British Stoppage victories to wow the masses, and convince them they were all looking at the second coming of Mike Tyson. Its the quintessential building of a KO artist prospect, its been done before countless times, AJ's following the same pattern.

Then came the slight road bump...

He ran into Dillian Whyte, who had a slightly better chin than all of his previous victims, and AJ thinking he could easily dispose of him like all the rest, rushed in like a fool and ate a massive left hook, that left... left him in all kinds of trouble for about 30 seconds, he was pretty much out on his feet, and if Whyte's arm hadn't blown out, or if Whyte was a more accurate puncher, who knows what could have transpired. This much I can tell you, a more skilled operator wouldn't have let that opportunity pass them by. AJ intelligently decided to get behind his jab to keep Whyte at bay after nearly coming unstuck in the 2nd, thankfully for him he saved himself from an early hiccup, because when push came to shove and he had to rely on his skillset, he's a little more skilled than a rudimentary one armed caveman in Whyte.

As a postscript to that match, Whyte's power is all but nonexistent in recent performances (which adds yet another question mark to AJ's chin) and skill wise he went life and death with a shot Chisora who Haye savagely disposed of in 5, and Tyson 2 Fast Fury dominated from start to finish, so Whyte's, (who is AJ's best win) level has kind of been exposed.

Then the opportunity presented itself for AJ to grab a quick paper title off of a thoroughly unproven Martin, who while decent and a southpaw, he leaves himself way to open and didn't have anything close to an Olympic pedigree, while I like Martin and had my fingers crossed and was rooting for him, its not like I wasn't aware that going with him was a ludicrously massive longshot, but hey, Whyte almost landed that lucky punch. Regardless Martin clearly showed up for a paycheck as well, or at the very least he knew he'd probably lose because he had no answer for AJ's right hand so took the easy way out.

Breazeale most people seem to forget should've already had one loss on his record against Kassi, he was outboxed 6-4 to 7-3 and was gifted a win. After that debacle he was being comprehensively outclassed, dropped and basically dominated by Amir Mansour, the same Mansour who lost the first 5 rounds to Washington and was very competitive with the bummish Travis Kauffman, Dominic got lucky landed a big shot and Mansour pulled out with a jaw injury. Its an understatement to say that Breazeale lacks skills. All you have to do to beat Breazeale is to be cautious as hell, stay behind a jab, and don't leave yourself open when he gets desperate and starts swinging for the fences when hurt, and you'll do fine. Eric Molina is chinless and relatively unskilled as well, so neither of those matches presented AJ with any genuine riddles he may come in contact with in future matchups.

What do all 4 of his big step ups have in common? They're all basically unskilled brawlers who may have a wrinkle in their game here and there that may present some problems to an unseasoned newbie or old past it tin cans, but that's about it. To any decent to slightly above average fighter, they all have zero defense and are there to be punched in the face and stopped, and Anthony Joshua is a very decent fighter.

One thing is for damn sure, to date, Anthony Joshua has never had to face anything other than a brawler or a featherfisted hack, and why is that? Is Hearn afraid the first time AJ gets in there with a fighter with even a hint of a skillset that AJ might get exposed? Possibly?

Joshua has never faced a skilled boxer puncher, a skilled evasive southpaw, a pressure fighter who knows how to get inside and work the body, a unorthodox swarmer who throws from unique angles, an opponent with an immaculate jab, an explosive ambush style fighter, a combination puncher, a fleet footed fighter, and most importantly he's never had to face an incredibly heavy handed elusive counter puncher who specializes in spoiling his opponents rhythm.

But guess who has, a heavy handed incredibly elusive counter puncher who specializes in spoiling his opponents rhythm has.
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In a nutshell. Wlad has fought the better comp by far. Wlad is old. Joshua is untested. Wlad is old. The old Wlad kos Joshua. Can Wlad pull the trigger? We both hope that went kos Joshua. And CST, you don't have to be neutral. Just keep it G lol... You only have to be neutral dealing with us lmao.

BlizzyBlizz · Apr 20, 2017

gold said: ↑

Ward is more comparable to John Ruiz than Wlad. He got dropped heavily by Kovalev and then grabbed and hugged for the remainder of the fight hoping to hear the final bell
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I forgot to add Gold to the list of **** posters. Oh...I can still add him, lmao.

CST80 · Apr 21, 2017

Octolony shore said: ↑

I agree with you that they don't realise how good he is until they are in with him(mainly because he has a safety first and disciplined style), but you won't convince anyone of fair mind that the names you had up have more to offer than AJ.
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The only advantage Joshua has over guys like Pulev, Chambers, Ibragimov and Chagaev is size and power, skillwise he's not their superior, Haye and Povetkin are superior to him skillwise and in all likelihood in the power department as well. AJ doesn't necessarily have one punch KO power, he's clearly heavy handed, but he's far from a one shot and you're out cold guy like Tyson, he tends to be an accumulation KO artist on guys with okay chins. So no, its not a stretch to say they are equal to or superior to AJ, I hope you're not implying AJ has a record superior to theirs going into this match.

MVC! · Apr 21, 2017

I would have liked for you to use K2 instead of Everest, woulda fit this much better tbh. But still, great writeup!

Staminakills · Apr 21, 2017

Wtf, can you people truly not see the massive talent gap between Aj and wlad ??? Aj is many levels above wlad in EVERY meaningful aspect. This is a huge, HUGE mismatch. Aj would steam roll any wlad ever. How can you not play it forward ?? Who has wlad ever fought that's half as talented as Aj , NO ONE

NakiFan · Apr 21, 2017

Staminakills said: ↑

Wtf, can you people truly not see the massive talent gap between Aj and wlad ??? Aj is many levels above wlad in EVERY meaningful aspect. This is a huge, HUGE mismatch. Aj would steam roll any wlad ever. How can you not play it forward ?? Who has wlad ever fought that's half as talented as Aj , NO ONE
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AJ has fought opponents in his pro career that are less than half as talented as Wlad.

Octolony shore · Apr 21, 2017

CST80 said: ↑

The only advantage Joshua has over guys like Pulev, Chambers, Ibragimov and Chagaev is size and power, skillwise he's not their superior, Haye and Povetkin are superior to him skillwise and in all likelihood in the power department as well. AJ doesn't necessarily have one punch KO power, he's clearly heavy handed, but he's far from a one shot and you're out cold guy like Tyson, he tends to be an accumulation KO artist on guys with okay chins. So no, its not a stretch to say they are equal to or superior to AJ, I hope you're not implying AJ has a record superior to theirs going into this match.
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I will have to disagree with you on pulev, chambers, ibragimov and chagaev, but you have a point with Haye and the cheat Povetkin

Todd498 · Apr 21, 2017

Staminakills said: ↑

Wtf, can you people truly not see the massive talent gap between Aj and wlad ??? Aj is many levels above wlad in EVERY meaningful aspect. This is a huge, HUGE mismatch. Aj would steam roll any wlad ever. How can you not play it forward ?? Who has wlad ever fought that's half as talented as Aj , NO ONE
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Dude... Joshua will NEVER, NEVER be as talented as Wladimir at his best (2007-2012 roughly) regardless of how much 'Supplements' Eddie Hearn pays off VADA or WADA to turn the other cheek to And in my opinion... Wlad will show he's still levels above Joshua in 8 days.

And WHO on Wladimir Klitschko's level has Joshua EVER beat?? The GIFT decisions he got in the Olympics?? Winning the title from Charles "I walk dis errf like a GOD" Martin?? Who?

CST80 · Apr 21, 2017

Staminakills said: ↑

Wtf, can you people truly not see the massive talent gap between Aj and wlad ??? Aj is many levels above wlad in EVERY meaningful aspect. This is a huge, HUGE mismatch. Aj would steam roll any wlad ever. How can you not play it forward ?? Who has wlad ever fought that's half as talented as Aj , NO ONE
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This is probably one of the most worthy posts I've ever seen on here in quite some time. Congratulations.

Todd498 · Apr 21, 2017

CST80 said: ↑

This is probably one of the most worthy posts I've ever seen on here in quite some time. Congratulations.
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I seriously thought that was just a goofy troll posts at first glance. But given the guys post history... the reject was actually serious.

Pimp C · Apr 21, 2017

This is a true pick em fight but not in the traditional sense, like a close fight between the two boxers. I see this fight unfolding only two ways either Wlad simply outclasses Joshua and gives him a beat down and stops him or Joshua just steamrolls Wlad and stops him early. It won't be a close fight either way and IMO a close fight is the least likely outcome. At the end of the day, I just hope the winner gets to fight Fury or Wilder.

On The Money · Apr 21, 2017

Joshua's best win is fringe contender Dillian Whyte who almost knocked him out, just a reminder.

Todd498 · Apr 21, 2017

On The Money said: ↑

Joshua's best win is fringe contender Dillian Whyte who almost knocked him out, just a reminder.
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I thought his best 'win' was Mr "I walk Dis Errf like a God."

On The Money · Apr 21, 2017

Todd498 said: ↑

I thought his best 'win' was Mr "I walk Dis Errf like a God."
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I'd have a shout at knocking that bum out and I'm 49. No kidding.

Todd498 · Apr 21, 2017

On The Money said: ↑

I'd have a shout at knocking that bum out and I'm 49. No kidding.
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Hahahahaha!!!

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The Last Stand Of Dr. Steelhammer: Will AJ's Great Leap Forward Be A Bridge Too Far?

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The Last Stand Of Dr. Steelhammer: Will AJ's Great Leap Forward Be A Bridge Too Far?

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