By Scott Gilfoid: Undefeated #2 WBC heavyweight contender Anthony Joshua (13-0, 13 KOs) has a mismatch scheduled for September 12th against undefeated but very, very limited Gary Cornish (21-0, 12 KOs) for the vacant Commonwealth heavyweight title at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn says that newly crowned EBU heavyweight champion Erkan Teper (15-0, 10 KOs) is someone that he is targeting for Joshua later on down the line.
After Joshua gets past Cornish, he has a fight for the vacant British heavyweight title against unbeaten talent Dillian Whyte (14-0, 11 KOs) for November or December this year. If Joshua wins that fight, he’d have both the Commonwealth and British titles in his possession.
Hearn would like for Joshua to win the European heavyweight title after that, which would mean that we likely will see Joshua face Teper in 2016, as long as the fight can be negotiated. Teper recently obliterated former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion David Price (19-3, 16 KOs) by a 2nd round knockout last Friday at the Ludwigsburg MHP Arena, Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
“It was a shame to see David Price knocked out in Germany against Erkan Teper,” Hearn said via the Dailymail.co.uk. “We all know his [Price] talent, but for whatever reason, be it physical or emotional, he is suffering these losses. A fight with Joshua will now be the last thing he needs, but we have our eyes on Teper. He is definitely a target.”
A fight between Joshua and Teper would be an interesting one, especially off the back of Joshua fighting Whyte. Those are two good fights in a row Joshua, and it’ll be interesting to see how he does against those guys. However, we still don’t know if Joshua has the talent to get past Whyte, because he clearly had the tall, bodybuilding Joshua’s number in their fight six years ago in 2009 in beating him.
Since the only thing that’s changed since that time is Joshua putting on a lot of useless bodybuilding muscle, I think there’s a good chance that Whyte beats him again. Despite adding all the muscle, Joshua doesn’t appear to be punching any harder than he was in 2009, and he’s a lot slower now than he was back then due to the extra 30 pounds of weight that Joshua has put on. When you add a bunch of bulky muscles like Joshua has, it doesn’t increase your hand speed, and it doesn’t do anything for your punching power.
The only benefit Joshua has with his extra weight is he can bump his opponents around the ring if he bangs into them with his body, but that’s pretty much it. In comparing how Joshua looked at fought in the 2012 Olympics to how he’s fighting now, I think Joshua was a far better fighter in 2012 than he is now. He weighed in the low 220s in the Olympics and was much faster. I mean, Joshua wasn’t fast at all, but he was clearly faster back then.
I think the hard hitting Teper would be a real threat to beating Joshua simply because of how powerful Teper is. The guy can really punch with either hand, and his left hook is very dangerous. He reminds me of the late Corrie Sanders with his ability to punch with major power in close.
At 6’5”, 250lbs, Teper would have the bulk to compete with the slightly taller 6’6”, 250lb Joshua. I think Teper could get to Joshua’s chin and expose him like Price was exposed. If Teper can get Joshua to the deep waters, he could drown him. Joshua has added a lot of muscle in a very, very short period of time. When you pack on 20 pounds of muscle in just two years, it’s difficult for your heart to be able to pump blood to that extra weight.
Boxing is a fight that requires a great cardiovascular system, which is why a lot of body building type fighters don’t do well in the later rounds. Their heart gets tired from having to pump oxygen to all those muscles and they gas out and get beaten. We could see that happen to Joshua unless he gets wise and strips off some of that useless muscle to get back down to the low 220s again.
“It’s full steam ahead for Anthony Joshua. He goes up against Gary Cornish for the vacant Commonwealth heavyweight title and in doing faces a 6ft 8in man who is actually bigger than he is,” Hearn said. “This is a fight against a man who seriously believes he can win.”
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