By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten highly ranked #2 WBC Anthony Joshua (14-0, 14 KOs) believes he’s being pushed fast into a fight against unbeaten IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) because people want to see the two of them face each other for the title. That’s why Joshua sees himself battling Fury for his titles in the near future.
Surprisingly, Joshua doesn’t see Dillian Whyte (16-0, 13 KOs) as being talented enough to win a world title despite having beaten him in the past, and having one of the hardest punches in the division.
We could see Joshua change his assessment of Whyte after the two of them face each other next Saturday night with Whyte beating Joshua once again like he did in the amateur ranks.
“The thing with me and Fury, and it’s the same as me and the Dillian Whyte fight is, that people want to see us fight. Champion or no champion – they want to see us fight,” Joshua said to skysports.com. “That’s why it’ll be made. Even though I’m not at that level, I think it’ll be fast-tracked.”
I think there’s people in the UK who want to see Joshua fight Fury for his titles because there’s not much quality right now in terms of viable heavyweights. Once you get past Whyte, Joshua and Fury in the UK, what do you have? Your kind of stuck with the David Price, Dereck Chisora and Hughie Fury types.
With only those guys to pick from, then of course a fighter with a Golden medal in the Olympics is going to be fast tracked for a title shot against Fury, even though the Gold medal was a controversial one with many boxing fans seeing Joshua having lost 2 to 4 times in that Olympics. But just because Joshua is being pushed for the Fury fight doesn’t mean he’s got loads of talent.
We’ve already seen that Joshua’s fighting style has not improved since he turned pro in 2013. I mean, Joshua came into the pros as a slow arm puncher, and two years later, he’s still primarily an arm puncher but even slower than he was before because he’s chosen to bulk up 20 pounds for some reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfhGZ7WaxSA
Joshua says he’s not lifting weights and is just gaining muscle from the exercises he’s been doing. At 250, I think Joshua could continue to bulk up and could wind up in the 270 to 290 range at some point, and be too slow to beat the top guys.
We don’t even know how Joshua’s recent added weight gain will impact his game when he’s forced to fight 10 and 12 round fights. I can’t imagine it’s helping his heart any by putting on 20 pounds quickly to compete in a sport that requires a good cardiovascular system.
“I think he’s [Whyte] a good prospect. I don’t think this fight will be the end of Dillian,” Joshua said. “I think he’ll be a world title challenger if he’s managed right but I don’t know if he’ll be a world champion.”
We don’t know where either of these fighters will wind up, but it is interesting how Joshua has become so cocky since he turned pro despite not having faced any living and breathing competition. It’s scary how cocky Joshua is. He’s talking about Whyte as if he himself is coming from up high having already made it, when in fact Joshua is no further along than Whyte.
It’s hilarious because Joshua sounds totally deluded already, and he hasn’t even cut his teeth on his first quality opponent. Heck, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn is matching him up in the same soft way that he’s been matching IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook since he took over as his promoter five years ago. Joshua and Brook have not fought quality opposition. I mean, Brook did fight Shawn Porter in 2014, but Brook clinched his way to a victory in a fight that he should have lost points due to all the holding he did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xx5nwUmbgw
It was sad to see Brook resigned to having to hold all night long to get a cheap victory in a fight where the referee failed to do his job. It would have been interesting to see what the referee would have done if Porter had decided to foul Brook all night long to try and gain an edge against him. Holding isn’t fouling, but I definitely see it as bending the rules when you hold as much as Brook did against Porter.
I see Whyte beating Joshua next Saturday in their fight on December 12th on Sky Box Office from the O2 Arena in London, UK. I just hope we see fair scoring of the fight if it goes to the judges because I’d hate to see a controversial decision either way where one of these two fighters moves on with their career based on a horrible decision. That’s not good for the sport obviously, and I don’t see there being a rematch unfortunately if the decision is a controversial one.
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