By Scott Gilfoid: We saw last Saturday night the pros and the cons of IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s fighting style with his 7th round knockout victory over the stationary American Dominic Breazeale (17-1, 15 KOs). Joshua, weighing 243 pounds, was able to plod forward and nail the immobile 6’7” Breazeale with power shots all night long until the American was finished off in the 7th.
What was crystal clear in watching Joshua was that he does well against guys that stand directly in front of him and don’t move around. Had that been Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury in the ring with Joshua, he would have had major problems with their movement. The fact of the matter is that Joshua does not do well against guys that move on him.
If you want proof, look at this video here of Joshua struggling against Cuban Erislandy Savon in the 2012 Olympics in London, Savon, who was clearly a lot lighter and shorter than Joshua on the night, was able to use movement and in and out attacks to unsettle Joshua the entire fight. Joshua won the contest, but it was very controversial. There are many boxing fans who believe that Savon beat Joshua easier than Roberto Cammarelle did in the finals of the Olympics. I’m in agreement with that. I thought Savon clearly beat Joshua.
Writer Steve Bunce also believes that Joshua would have had problems if he’d been in with a mobile fighter like Tyson Fury.
“Anthony Joshua should be back in the gym today throwing handfuls of rice in preparation for the day he fights a man that can move, avoid a punch and counter,” said Bunce at the Independent. “If Joshua had been in the ring with Tyson Fury on Saturday night he would still be chasing shadows and moving on the same straight lines inside a darkened ring.”
I totally agree with Mr. Bunce. Joshua SHOULD be back in the gym working on trying to deal with fighters that can move, because I don’t think he’s ready to fight anyone that can circle the ring, jab and an elusive target for 12 rounds. If you look at Joshua’s flaws in his game, he doesn’t have a great jab, he doesn’t move well, and he’s horrible at cutting off the ring. The positives that we saw from Joshua against Breazeale are things that we’ve seen from him from day one. Joshua is good at using his size to batter a small, weaker, stationary, non-punching fighter.
Joshua has always been good at beating guys that stand still that don’t throw punches. Where Joshua has struggled was against talents that moved in and out like Erislandy Savon and Mihai Nistor in the amateur ranks. I can’t blame Breazeale for not being able to fight like Nistor and Savon, because he’s not as quick on his feet as those guys were. Even if Breazeale had tried to use the game plan that those two fighters did, he couldn’t do it, because he’s too big, too slow, and too lethargic.
“When Joshua was stopped in June 2011 by a rough Romanian [Nistor] at the European championships he was on his feet but out of ideas and puff. There is nothing wrong with Joshua’s heart or chin, but unless he learns about the boxing business he will run out of ideas against men with talent to match their desire,” said Bunce.
It was more of a case of the southpaw Nistor being smart enough to be out of range of Joshua’s shots when he wasn’t throwing his own punches. Nistor would come in and nail Joshua with tremendous left hands, and then get away before he could fire back anything. Nistor was brilliant in that fight. He ended up stopping Joshua in the third round. If a fighter wanted to learn how to beat Joshua, all they need is Nistor to train them how to do it, because he totally dominated Joshua the entire fight. It was one-sided. If the referee hadn’t stopped the fight, I think Joshua would have been seriously hurt by Nistor because he was getting clocked by the Romanian and he was too slow to catch him with anything. If a fighter wants to know how to beat Joshua, Nistor and Savon totally have the right strategy. If I’m one of the top heavyweights, I would have Nistor as my brain trust in training camp to help me train for the fight.