By Scott Gilfoid: On paper, the 6’7” Gary Cornish (21-0, 12 KOs) is little more than just the usual 3rd tier fodder opponent like the previous 13 other weak fodder opponents that British heavyweight Anthony Joshua (13-0, 13 KOs) has padded his record with since he first turned pro in 2013 after winning a controversial gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics. But in the mind of former IBF/WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch, the 28-year-old Cornish will be a real test for the 6’6” Joshua.
Froch thinks that we’re going to be able to learn something from the Joshua-Cornish fight. I’m not sure precisely what other than what we already know about Joshua being able to beat badly over-matched slow guys that can’t punch and have little in the way of talent.
“Gary Cornish is big and unbeaten and should on paper give Joshua a real test and will certainly be a step up in class,” Froch said via skysports.com.
Disagree with Froch. I don’t think the big lumbering Cornish is a step up in class from Joshua’s last opponent Kevin Johnson. If anything, I see it as a step down in class from Johnson.
Cornish is slower, weaker than and not as talented as Johnson in my view. I mean, if you were to have fed Kevin Johnson the same C-level opponents that Cornish had fought to build up his 21-0 record, I see Johnson having an identical record as him, but with more knockouts.
Even at 36, I still rate Johnson as a better fighter than Cornish. As such, I see Joshua taking a step downward in class with the Cornish fight. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has fought another weak guy for Joshua to win and look good against, and it’ll tell us zero about him.
We’re not going to be able to learn anything about the hulking 249lb Joshua until he faces Dillian Whyte (15-0, 12 KOs) on December 12th in London, and I suspect we’ll find out that Joshua is another David Price with him getting knocked out.
“The way he’s dispatched and the way he’s looked with the guys he’s been in with is really separating him from anyone else who has come through in the last few years,” Froch said to Sky Poker. “I’m confident he’ll do the business against Cornish on September 12th and it won’t be long before we’re stepping him up. It won’t be long before we’re stepping him up to dare I say for the world title. I see Joshua defeating Cornish. It will be a steady night’s work for him. He’s got to be careful, which he will be. He’ll take Cornish seriously because he’s undefeated and it’s for the Commonwealth title. I just know he’s a step above him. He’s leagues apart from Cornish, because of his amateur pedigree, and because what I’ve seen from him in sparring, and I’ve seen with the guys he’s dispatched,” Froch said.
Froch is basically admitting the fight is a mismatch as he talks more and more, yet he thinks it’s going to be a real test. I don’t understand that at all. It’s so sad. How do you honestly say a fighter like Cornish is going to be a test if he’s not on the same level as Joshua? Froch says Joshua is streets ahead, yet he thinks it’s going to be a real test.
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