By Scott Gilfoid: 2012 British Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist Anthony Joshua (1-0, 1 KO’s) will be fighting against 37-year-old journeyman Paul Butlin (14-19, 3 KO’s) on October 26th on the undercard of the Kell Brook vs. Vyacheslav Senchenko card at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
Butlin has lost 13 out of his last 15 fights, and he’s looked especially bad recently in losing to Dorian Darch and Gary Cornish. Butlin has lost to a lot of well-known fighters like Larry Olubamiwo, Dereck Chisora [twice], Johnathon Banks, Paolo Vidoz, David Dolan and Sebastian Koeber. I would say that he would give Joshua a good test, but given his lack of power and his advanced age, I think this is just another fodder opponent for Joshua.
The 6’6″ Joshua made his pro debut last Saturday night in stopping Emanuele Leo in the 1st round. Although Joshua got a quick victory, he looked slow, stiff, and not powerful at all given his huge size. I got to be honest here. The explosiveness wasn’t there in his punches, and didn’t look like a former Olympic Gold medalist. I don’t know what Joshua is going to do if he can’t find any power, because it gets much more difficult than Leo when he starts moving up against better heavyweights in the division.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn will likely make it really easy for him to build up an impressive record in a short period of time by keeping him out of harm’s way by matching him carefully. I can see Joshua getting his first 40 wins without facing a live body, but the problem is when he faces an actual heavyweight with even a slight amount of talent, I think Joshua is going to get battered and knocked out unless he improves his punching power, hand speed and his flexibility.
I rate Joshua below the UK’s top heavyweights David Haye, Tyson Fury, Dereck Chisora, David Price and Hughie Fury. That doesn’t mean that he can’t improve, but right now I don’t see the spark there that would suggest that Joshua will be a future world champion in the heavyweight division. He needs to lose some of the extra muscle he’s carrying around on his upper body because it seems to be slowing him down by making him appear muscle bound.
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