Lewis says Joshua shouldn’t fight Fury or Wladimir yet

By Boxing News - 07/12/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Former heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis thinks IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua lacks the experience to fight Tyson Fury or Wladimir Klitschko right now. Lewis wants to see Joshua get more fights under his belts before he looks to fight the likes of Fury or Wladimir.

Joshua doesn’t need to worry about Fury or Wladimir in 2016, because he’s not going to be fighting either of them this year. Fury is injured still, and there still isn’t a date for the rematch between him and Wladimir. It’s likely that the two giant heavyweights will fight in either late October or sometime in November.

If Joshua is going to fight the winner of that match, it’ll have to wait until 2017. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants to put together a match between Joshua and Fury as soon as possible. Hearn believes that Joshua wins that fight, so he wants to make it soon. Hearn isn’t saying but he likely wants to have Joshua get to Fury before one of the other heavyweights whips him and takes away his unbeaten record.

“Joshua is nothing like experienced enough yet to face either Tyson or Wladimir,” said Lewis via the Dailymail. “He was right to seize the opposition which came along to win one of the belts but he still needs more fights against steadily better opponents.”

I think Joshua would probably beat Fury or Wladimir right now. Let’s be honest here; they both looked horrible in their fight last November. The way Wladimir and Fury looked in that fight, I think a handful of the top heavyweights would have beaten either of them on that night. Right now, I think the following heavyweights would wipe out Wladimir and Fury: Joseph Parker, Deontay Wilder, Joshua, Luis Ortiz, Alexander Povetkin, David Haye, and Bermane Stiverne.

I would pick Kubrat Pulev to beat Fury. Obviously, Wladimir has Pulev’s number due to his punching power. Pulev wouldn’t have to worry about punching power if he fought the feather-fisted Fury, and I think he would beat him easier than he did Dereck Chisora. Speaking of Chisora, I would give him a good chance of beating Wladimir right now. If Dillian Whyte regains the strength in his left shoulder than he once had, then I could see him beating Wladimir and Fury as well.

Lewis is being too cautionary with Joshua. I think Joshua is more than ready to beat Wladimir and Fury right now. He needs to face them before they started getting beaten over and over again by other guys. The guys that Joshua needs to watch out for are fighters like Deontay, Joseph Parker, Luis Ortiz and David Haye. Those guys have power and can box. If any of them land cleanly on Joshua’s chin, he’ll be wobbled and ready to go.

“Haye is not as big a risk to AJ as Fury or Klitschko but he would still be a danger,” said Lewis. “As long as David doesn’t get too heavy his speed would be a problem and there is always the possibility of a knockout if he lands his Hayemaker.”

Well, I think Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn might be worried about what Haye brings to the table in terms of punching power, because he’s not anxious to put Joshua in with him. That kind of tells you something, doesn’t it?

Bermane Stiverne is being mentioned a possibility for Joshua’s next fight in November. Joshua seems game to fight the 37-year-old Stiverne despite the fact that he was beaten just last year by Deontay Wilder. The idea behind Joshua fighting Stiverne is that he would be fighting another U.S based heavyweight. That would in theory make Joshua more popular in the U.S if he’s seen beating someone that the casual boxing fans in American can recognize. i’m not sure how many casual fans in American know who Stiverne is. I would think it would be very, very few. The casual fans in the U.S aren’t big followers of the heavyweight division. You’d have to be someone that likes watching heavyweight fights to know who Stiverne is. Never the less, it looks like Joshua will be fighting Stiverne next. I hope Joshua doesn’t live to regret that decision. Stiverne can punch and if he connects Joshua’s chin, it’ll be all over.