Hearn brags about Joshua’s ability to finish off opponents

By Boxing News - 09/17/2015 - Comments

hearn56By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is quite happy right now after his fighter Anthony Joshua’s latest massacre victory over Gary Cornish last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Joshua, ranked #2 by the WBC in the heavyweight division, knocked the amateurish Cornish down twice in the round before the fight was stopped after Cornish clawed his way off the canvas.

Hearn thinks that the 6’6” Joshua is on his way to becoming a mega-star in the sport, and would do the same thing to all the other heavyweights that he did to the 28-year-old Cornish once he gets them hurt.

“The speed he [Joshua] finished him [Cornish] with,” Hearn said to PT Boxing. “Anthony Joshua is going to be a mega star. Now he’s going to fight Dillian Whyte on December 12th. It sold out in six hours, 17,000 tickets. It’s going to be a huge fight. People know it’s a real fight, and they love the bad blood. Dillian Whyte plays a very key role in that respect. People were a little hard on Dillian Whyte, but Minto is not bad. He’s clever and he’s small. I think he [Whyte] just steamrolled him. That last shot, it wasn’t a glancing blow. Minto said he was just concussed so he didn’t want to get up. This is going to be the same for any heavyweight in my opinion. When he [Joshua] stuns you, he’s on you and within in 10 seconds it’s over. So he’s a really dangerous man. Dillian Whyte’s in for a really tough fight, but Dillian will be there, and he won’t give up and he’ll fight for the death,” Hearn said.

I don’t buy that Joshua can finish off any heavyweight if he gets them buzzed. I do think Joshua can get knocked out if he keeps fighting in the style that he’s using now. He likes to stand flat-footed in front of his opponents and slug with them. When you fight like that, you’re going to get it sooner or later.

Heck, even the mediocre Cornish was able to nail Joshua with several good shots in the round before getting done in with a hard right hand. Just imagine if Joshua was facing a heavyweight some actual punching power. It doesn’t matter who it would be. Any heavyweight with power is going to be a serious threat to Joshua because he’s a straight up slugger, and seems to fight on emotion rather than by his wits.

When you heavyweight that fights on anger and adrenalin like Joshua, they’re not going to be able to last in the long run. You have to be intelligent in the ring like Wladimir Klitschko and Deontay Wilder to stay on top of the game for a long time.

Joshua will be fighting unbeaten Dillian Whyte (16-0, 13 KOs) in a toss-up fight on December 12th at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Whyte arguably is a better puncher than Joshua, and seems to be the more intelligent fighter in my view. Whyte reminds me a lot of George Foreman in his comeback when he was in his early 40s. Whyte doesn’t have the talent of a younger Foreman, but he’s definitely on part with Foreman when he came back after a 10 year layoff and was knocking everyone out in his 40s.

I think Whyte is a real threat to Joshua because he’s made to order for Whyte just like Joe Frazier was made to order for Foreman. There’s nothing that Joshua can do to not be made to order for Whyte, because he doesn’t have the ability to move around the ring due to all the muscles that he’s got on his 250lb frame.

Let’s be real. Joshua is a mesomorph, and he’s never going to be able to move around the ring to get away from a puncher like Whyte. Yeah, Whyte might not have the greatest physique in the heavyweight division, but he’s proving that you don’t have to possess an athletic looking physique to beat fighters that look better than him. Whyte is just made for fighting in the trenches, and Joshua is going to make it easy for him on December 12th by standing directly in front of him.



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