Its not the big hurdles that worry you the most, its the little ones, the ones you are expected to jump over with ease that makes you nervous. With Klitchko came a real chance he was going to lose but the excitment of the occasion quietens down the muscle tightening nerves. But as big as the crowd and the venue was this was not seen as one of those massive exciting occasions and to top that off there is talk of serious amition in 2018 with hope of facing Parker and Wilder and unifying the division. This fight had to be dealt with, a seriously underated opponent with the size and style to really make a fight hard and ugly. Im a Joshua fan and im not trying to make excuses for last nights performance but he looked more uptight than his usual self last night. with what is possibly just ahead of him in 2018 this must of felt like one big Banana skin for him. Other reasons for that performance was ofcourse the broken nose, the fact he is way too bulky and he isnt some freak of nature unstoppable force and Takam is very good and very akward. And not forgetting he was smashing it on the score cards.
Difficult opponent to look good against. Joshua isn't perfect so won't always look great. Pressure. Everybody expects Joshua to knock guys out easily and quickly. Don't think 2018 had anything to do with it.
joshua has still never faced a dangerous opponent who was anywhere near their prime. he has faced bums and shot to **** klitschko. he won't last as hw champ.
He was feeling the pressure of facing a good heavyweight. Takam is better than those others he faced. Except for old man Wlad.
As predicted pre-fight Takam was his second biggest test, and that is how it turned out in the ring. The performance was nothing to do with pressure of 2018, it was the test in front of him. It takes AJ to a level clearly above Wilder now in terms of opposition faced, respect amongst those in the boxing know has grown, and this gives him confidence for 2018.
He was preparing for pulev, a fighter that wouldn't be able to last more than a few rounds. That was going to be a highlight real KO. Takam was always in camp for the inevitable pull out. The opponent change was a factor, Aj was now fighting one that was zero threat but her knew all along he'd be far more durable than pulev. Slacking off the last couple weeks off training brought a far too heavy Aj to the ring. I don't understand the problem with his performance last night. Aj did EXACTLY what he said he'd do prior to the fight. You guys are complaining about the champ following the exact first game plan. Sorry, but there was zero chance takam was seeing the final bell. Was he going to all the sudden transform into something he's not capable pulling off. Takam was slip open above and below BOTH eyes, never had a single moment during the fight where it could've been possible for the tide to pull off a complete 180 and start being competitive. Not expecting takam to be able to take control at any single time during the fight because he's in the ring with a fighter so many levels above any fighter he's ever been in with. The ref was a single shot (they were starting to land at will) the outcome would be the same 100% of the time. If that stoppage was against wilder or ortiz or fury I'd be all sorts of confused and feel cheated. Takam was hurt multiple times, couldn't see and was being hit cleanly by a fighter that can literally treat him like a heavy bag, which he did whenever he wanted. What other fighter, besides spence can tell you exactly what they're going to do and follow it to a tee ? You guys are complaining about a total mismatch that played out exactly how out always would.. I guess people just need something, anything to cry about. No matter how pathetic the issue is, just cry
You believe Aj was under pressure last night ? He wasn't under any mental nor any physical pressure. What fight were you guys watching. The only difference between takam and most of Aj post victim's was only durability.
there are lots of guys just turning pro that joshua should avoid in a few years. he has **** stamina, a glass jaw and his only defense is his size and offense. usually someone unexpected jumps up and beats these champs too. happened to tyson, holyfield, bowe, lewis, and klitschko.
Joshua will not even come close to reigning as long as Wladimir did. Not even close. He’ll get clipped by Povetkin, outboxed on a good night by Parker, schooled by Usyk after he moves up to HW, or stopped by Hrgovic, Teslenko or Sirenko in 3-4 years. HGH gut won’t even reign 4 years let alone 10! Hopefully some UKAD tester pockets Eddie Hearns money while saying “**** you” and doesn’t throw away Anthony’s true test results
AJ is more focused than Tyson was, AJ`s jab is longer than Holy`s so he can keep opponents at bay for longer, AJ uses a half skip backwards to avoid shots Bowe just stood right in front of foe`s, Bowe lost to Holy in their rematch because he was out of shape, then lost to Golota because he was on the slide and was way easier to hit than AJ, Lewis avenged his losses apart from Vitali when a cut saved him, Rahman would get beat by AJ because of how Lewis dealt with him in the rematch and McCall couldn`t even beat Bruno and was easily outboxed in his rematch with Lewis I couldn`t see any one that was beat by a one punch at a time plodder like Bruno being able to deal with a brilliant, fast combo puncher like AJ.
Every boxing match against a decent boxer who's actually trying is a pressure. When a 235 pound man is landing any punches on you, that's physical pressure.
