Anthony Joshua vs. Dominic Breazeale official weights

By Boxing News - 06/24/2016 - Comments

Joshua-Breazle-Weigh (6)

By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (16-0, 16 KOs) weighed in at his lightest weight in two years in weighing in at 243 ¼ pounds at Friday’s weigh-in for his title defense on Saturday night against unbeaten #13 IBF challenger Dominic Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs) at the O2 Arena in London, England.

For his part, Breazeale weighed in at 255 pounds, which is slightly heavier than the 252 ¾ pounds he came in for his last bout against Amir Mansour last January. Breazeale will be sporting a 12 pound weight and a one inch height advantage over Joshua when the two of them get inside the ring on Saturday night at the O2 Arena.

This could be significant because Joshua has been the bigger guy for the most part in his fights during his three-year pro career. The only guy that was bigger than Joshua thus far during his career was the 6’7” Gary Cornish, but he didn’t have the punching power, hand speed or dare I say the talent to hang with Joshua for more than one round.

Breazeale is a different story. We’re talking about an 2012 U.S Olympian with major power, talent and boxing skills to go along with his huge size. This is going to be a tough fight for Joshua, and it could be a 50-50 affair, as described by WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder. He sees the fight as a toss-up, and I agree with Mr. Wilder. He’s right.

If Breazeale lands, it could be over for Joshua. I mean, we saw Joshua knocked silly by Dillian Whyte last December, and Breazeale hits every bit as hard as Whyte. The difference here is that Breazeale isn’t coming into the fight with a bum shoulder like Whyte did, and he’s in better shape than Whyte was for his fight against Joshua. There’s no excess saddle bags Breazeale is carrying around for this fight.

Breazeale, 30, looked in fine shape despite the added weight. It’s pretty clear that the extra weight Breazeale put on was in the form of muscle rather than fat.

The faceoff between Joshua and Breazeale was rather intense to say the least. It looked like Joshua was trying to intimidate Breazeale, who had a slight on grin on his face, as to say, ‘I’ve been there before and I’m not falling for your mind tricks.’ The 26-year-old Joshua was wasting his time trying to intimidate his elder Breazeale, because he’s too strong in the mind for him to cower just because he was being stared at. What was noticeable about the two fighters was how much bigger Breazeale was compared to Joshua. Breazeale was staring down at Joshua and looked like the much bigger fighter despite having just a 12 pound weight advantage. That size could be the factor that wins the fight for Breazeale.

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The winner of this fight will be able to move forward to face the likes of Deontay Wilder. He’s now in the spotlight for the winner of the Joshua-Breazeale clash, given the news of Tyson Fury suffering an ankle injury while training for his rematch with Klitschko. The Fury-Klitschko fight might not take place until November or December now. As such, the winner of the Joshua vs. Breazeale fight will need an opponent for November, and it sure as heck won’t be the winner of the Fury vs. Klitschko fight, because they won’t be available to fight. This means Deontay has the golden opportunity for a big money fight against Breazeale or Joshua. Wilder sees them both as the same basically, and he clearly feels confident he’ll be able to beat them and add the IBF strap to his collection of titles.

Breazeale is ahead of the game for this Saturday’s fight because he knows full well that he must start quickly against Joshua. Breazeale realizes that the guys that Joshua tends to plow under in his fights are guys that come in looking like timid rabbits in the opening round and not throwing punches. Breazeale isn’t going to fall into that trap. He’s going to start letting his hands go immediately to make sure he’s not just taking shots. It serves two purposes by being busy from the get go against Joshua: One, it helps tire Joshua out faster when you push a fast pace. Two, it breaks down his form because Joshua fights best when he’s able to fight in a mechanical manner and get everything he can on his shots using perfect form. When he’s involved in a war, Joshua’s form goes to pieces and he throws more arm punches rather than getting his body into his shots in the proper way.