Joshua’s next opponent won’t have much time to prepare

By Boxing News - 04/21/2016 - Comments

anthny josuhua (10)By Scott Gilfoid: Earlier on Thursday, Anthony Joshua revealed that he’ll be fighting his next bout on June 25 at the O2 Arena in London, UK. The 26-year-old Joshua (16-0, 16 KOs) will be making his first defense of his IBF heavyweight champion against one of the three heavyweights that his promoter Eddie Hearn has selected for him to pick from.

The fact that Joshua still hasn’t named his next opponent despite the fight date being only two months away puts his potential opponent in a very, very bad position where he’s going to have next to no time to train. It’ll be pretty sad if Joshua’s next opponent only gets four or five weeks to get ready for the fight. If Joshua is going to be selecting opponents using that method, he’ll have them at a disadvantage. If I was the one that got selected, I’d turn down the fight unless I got a full eight weeks of training.

Obviously, Joshua already has a jump on whoever he’s going to be fighting, as he’s likely been training for weeks to get ready for this fight. The longer that Joshua and Hearn delay naming his next opponent the more likely the opponent is going to have precious little time to prepare.

So there it is. Joshua says “After speaking to my coach I wanted the closest fight possible because I’m feeling good. I can’t wait to get back in training camp and pick up where we left off. The date to put in your diary is June 25, back at The O2 for my first title defence with a jam-packed undercard. I can’t wait to be back and I’m looking forward to performing for you once again. Take care and see you guys soon.”

The three fighters that Joshua will be picking from are from this bunch: Eric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs), who was knocked out last year by Deontay Wilder, Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs), a guy that was also beaten by Deontay in 2015, and Dominic Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs), a fighter with a recent controversial decision against journeyman Fred Kassi.

Joshua needs to fight a contender next, preferably one from the IBF’s top 15 rankings, but the pickings are mighty slim if you ask me. I don’t think any of those guys are good fighters, and I would have to say it won’t do much for Joshua to fight them.

I don’t where Joshua comes out ahead in selecting fighters that Deontay already beat. Nothing good can come from Joshua fighting Deontay’s leftovers, and I think it’s bad that Hearn even listed them as potential candidates for Joshua to select from. The only guy worthy of fighting in the list that Hearn gave Joshua is Breazeale in my view. At least he’s unbeaten, but terribly flawed as a fighter. The best contenders in the IBF’s rankings is Joseph Parker, David Haye and Carlos Takam.

Heavyweight talent Dillian Whyte could wind up on the undercard of Joshua’s June 25th card. Hearn and Joshua wants to start building up a rematch against him by putting him on his cards so that he can showcase his talent. Joshua vs. Whyte brought in over 400,000 PPV buys on Sky Box Office last December at the O2. It’s still unclear whether Whyte’s surgically repaired left shoulder will be healed enough for him to fight on the June 25 card.