Anthony Joshua vs. Konstantin Airich on September 13th in Manchester, UK

By Boxing News - 08/27/2014 - Comments

joshua2By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua (7-0, 7 KOs), fresh off his sparring work with IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in Austria, will be facing 35-year-old journeyman Konstantin Airich next month in scheduled 8-round fight at the Phones 4u Arena in Manchester, UK.

Airich has lost 5 out of his last 7 fights and you can make a strong argument that he’s probably a step down from Joshua’s last opponent 47-year-old Matt Skelton, who Joshua stopped in 2 rounds last July.

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport is calling this as step up fight for Joshua, but I disagree. I see this as definitely a step down for Joshua from Skelton. Airich is somebody who has a decent chin and a decent punch. Airich’s main claim to fame is going the distance with a badly out of shape 273 pound Solis.

Airich has lost a lot of fights in the last couple of years in defeats at the hands of Denis Bakhtov, Christian Hammer, Manuel Charr, Vyacheslav Glazkov, and Odlanier Solis.

“This fight signifies the first real step up for Anthony,” said Hearn via Fightnews.com. “Airich has plenty of experience at the top level, he’s a lively competitor and can punch. Anthony is fresh from his visit to spar Wladimir Klitschko and fans in Manchester can expect an explosive performance. Joshua’s clash with Airich is part of an exciting night of action in Manchester, led by Scott Quigg’s WBA World Super Bantamweight title defence against Stephane Jamoye with chief support coming from Anthony Crolla’s WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight title defense against Gamaliel Diaz.”

I see the Joshua-Airich fight as a simple mismatch. Airich has no hand speed whatsoever, and he’s not a particularly large heavyweight either. He’s going to be way out of his element against the 6’6” Joshua on September 13th.

It’s going to be interesting to see what Joshua has learned, if anything, from his 2 weeks of sparring with Wladimir Klitschko. If Joshua has been attentive then he might have learned some things from Wladimir.



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