Joshua vs. Breazeale – Dominic planning to KO Anthony

By Boxing News - 06/22/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Dominic “Trouble” Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs) sees himself as the new lion in town and he feels he’s going to come in and beat the lion Anthony Joshua (16-0, 16 KOs) on Saturday night and take his IBF heavyweight title. Breazeale says he’s going to knockout the 26-year-old Joshua, and he’s very confident he’ll be able to do that in their fight at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Breazeale has spent a lot of time looking at Joshua’s past fights, and he’s spotted a number of flaws in his game that he feels he can take advantage of them.

There’s a lot to look at in terms of flaws in Joshua’s game when you see him fight. He tends to bum rush his opponents, and he seems to be too inclined to slug with anyone. That’s a product of him having faced a lot of opposition that didn’t have the talent to make him cautious. In other words, Joshua doesn’t seem to know better yet that he should use some boxing in his fights. He thinks he can steam roll everyone based on being the taller and heavier fighter.

“I definitely plan on knocking him out. I’m not going to back down. I’ve got the confidence,” said Breazeale to IFL TV. “I’ve had seven weeks to prepare for this fight. I’m excited to get in there. Anthony Joshua has been fighting guys they put in front of him. They’re called bodies. Anthony Joshua is not going to be in for a walk in the park. He’s not going to have someone that stands in front of him that takes shot after shot. I plan on retaliating and putting some damage and making him realize he’s not the only big man in the world. He’s got some bad habits he carries with him. Anthony Joshua may be the lion, but I’m the new lion in town and I’m coming to get him,” said Breazeale.

I don’t know if Breazeale is going to be able to KO Joshua like he thinks he will. I mean, the chances are high that he’ll be the one that gets knocked out. Never the less, Breazeale has the right idea by choosing to go after Joshua immediately on Saturday night. We saw how Joshua struggled BADLY in his fights against Dillian Whyte last December when he came out and brawled with him immediately. We also saw how Italy’s Roberto Cammarelle and Cuba’s Erislandy Savon both took the fight to Joshua in the 2012 London Olympics and both seemingly beat him but weren’t given the decision.

“I’m thinking about coming out to no music at all and just listening to the crowd. It was a warm welcome today, I had a little boos, I had a little cheers. I’m loving it,” said Breazeale to skysports.com. “They can see a young lion climbing the mountain, someone who is ready to go and confident. It is going to be a fight to remember, two gladiators, two titans, something that people are going to be asking about for years to come.”

I wouldn’t be too bothered about focusing on the crowd on Saturday night if I were Breazeale. He needs to keep his mind about the task at hand. It’s like giving a speech in class. You don’t think about the students. You’ve got to focus on the speech and trying to impress the professor. Breazeale needs to forget about fans and think about how to chop Joshua down.

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Whyte says he hurt Joshua every time he hit him in their fight last year, and I think he’s right. Whyte was able to take tons of shots from Joshua, but Joshua couldn’t handle the few punches that Whyte landed before his injured shoulder gave out completely in round two.

Breazeale has a guy that can dish it out but can’t take it nearly as well in 26-yer-old Joshua. If he wants to whip him, then he needs to make sure he gets to his chin early and often by hitting him as hard as possible with each punch. Joshua will do the rest if he can’t handle Breazeale’s power like he clearly couldn’t with Whyte last year. Breazeale just needs to focus on making this fight a brawl as soon as the bell rings, and not get stuck in the sparring partner mode like 15 of Joshua’s 16 opponents did.