By Scott Gilfoid: It’s still unknown at this point whether #6 WBC heavyweight contender Anthony Joshua (12-0, 12 KOs) will ever rise above beating 40+ old journeyman level fighters that his promoter Eddie Hearn has been routinely feeding him one after another like Hors d’oeuvres, but one person thinks the 6’6” Joshua is the real deal is former IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch.
Froch believes that Joshua is an impressive fighter. Froch thinks that Joshua will beat his opponent for this Saturday, 35-year-old journeyman Kevin Johnson (29-6-1, 14 KOs), without too many problems.
The only thing that Froch wonders is whether Joshua will stop Johnson or just dominate him. That’s the big question.
We don’t know how well Joshua will do once he steps it up because he’s not stepping it up. All we do know is that two of Joshua’s wins in the London Olympics of 2012 were controversial ones with many fans believing that Joshua should have lost to Roberto Cammarelle and Erislandy Savon. Those guys are by far much better than the old timers that Eddie Hearn has been feeding Joshua since he turned pro in 2013. While some would say that Joshua has improved as a fighter since the Olympics, I don’t think he’s gotten better at all.
Joshua’s hand speed isn’t as good as it was back them when he was weighing in the 220s, and his power is pretty much the same. Joshua is now weighing 245 now, and he doesn’t look like on his feet.
“He is big, strong, fast and well-schooled, Froch said via Skysports.com. “He [Joshua] will win, it’s just what he decides to do on the night. I can see him dominating him, it just whether or not he goes for the stoppage.”
I can see this becoming a potentially bad fight for Joshua if he tries to go for a knockout in this fight because he’s likely to gas out, and grow arm weary. Believe me, if Joshua tries to score a knockout over Johnson, I can see Joshua gassing out and staying gassed out. Johnson then jump on him and make him look bad. Johnson can’t really punch, so Joshua should be safe even if he gasses out, but it would create the blueprint for others with excellent power to follow to later beat Joshua and end the hype.
The Joshua-Johnson fight will be taking place at the O2 Arena in London, UK. IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook is on the card fighting Frankie Gavin in another mismatch on paper. There is one fight on the card that I think may be an interesting one between IBF featherweight champion Evgeny Gradovich and Lee Selby. This could be interesting if Selby doesn’t run from Gradovich, and if the scoring for the fight is sound and oddball stuff.
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