Will we ever see the 'Old AJ' again?

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There is no way, Joshua is finished, he should hang up his gloves and get into some kind of business, we saw his behavior after the fight and I wonder why Joshua didn't use those emotions during the fight?

 

He's lost his nerve, in a deep sense, it probably isn't coming back.

 

Zero chance.

What you're seeing is innate self preservation, he probably can't override it at this point. It's no different to any other human being who say has a fall on a bike and just takes that little more care from now on, or gets a lifting injury and just never pushes the envelope ever again.

It's why, despite probably wanting to 'turn it on' internally against Franklin, he now has a mental block or defence mechanism that just doesn't allow him in case he gets hurt.

 

Unknown. It was the weight that made him look poor. I said the same thing about him when he was 254 against Tackam. He's too imobile at that weight.

When he fought Povetkin at 245 he could attack and move at the same time.

 

With the new mental approach and new gym techniques he has been working on and refining since 2019 he has over-written his old style.

This is his "new" muscle memory now so this is the style we will see. He cannot change tactic midway a fight or on the fly like many other fighters can because

- He is an over thinker
- He doesn't have the natural ring IQ
- He stands and admire his own work too much
- He repeats the same thing over and over because he tries to find success with that approach

PS: if he front runs you, he is going to demolish you and his head will be full of confidence and steam and he'll go all-out in an attack and really hurt you.
If he can't steamroll you then he'll be gunshy and hesitant looking for openings and getting countered regularly.

 

Old AJ gets chinned by top opposition.

New AJ gets chinned by top opposition

He can't win

 

Against Pulev it was his last good showing.

 

He is also not the Mr Nice Guy anymore. His mask slipped.

The meltdown after Usyk rematch and last night's post fight events prove that.

 

Joshua is mentally shot. He’s too afraid to get hit now an if makes him too anxious to really let his shots go in case he gets countered. He knows this an this is why he gets so irritable an confrontational outside the ring when he’s talking

 

That AJ never existed. Product of poor opposition.

 

Anthony Joshua who knocked out: Alexander Povetkin, Wladimir Klitschko, Charles Martin and Dillian Whyte - we won't.

 

I'm not sure there is an old AJ or a young AJ. There's just the AJ that Ruiz exposed. However, I can't see todays AJ getting off the canvas to beat Wlad so,,,,,,,