By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn thinks that his fighter heavyweight Anthony Joshua (13-0, 13 KOs) is just one year away from fighting for a world title against either Wladimir Klitschko or Tyson Fury, depending on which one emerges victorious in their clash on October 24th in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Hearn seems to be assuming that the 25-year-old Joshua will get past Gary Cornish (21-0, 12 KOs) this Saturday night in their fight at the O2 Arena in London, UK, and then defeat unbeaten Dillian Whyte (15-0, 12 KOs) on December 12th in their battle in London.
There’s also a possible fight for Joshua against EBU heavyweight champion Erkan Teper (15-0, 11 KOs) in the first half of 2016 that Joshua would need to win before he could be in line to fight for a world title next year.
“I think we are now only 12 months away from a world-title fight shot for Joshua and either man, Fury or Klitschko, could be in his way when the time comes,” Hearn said via the dailymail.co.uk. “AJ is making devastating progress so let’s wait and see.”
Hearn is showing his youth in the boxing business by getting so excited about Joshua’s progress. There’s obviously nothing wrong with getting worked over one’s own fighters, but the problem is Hearn has been matching Joshua against awful opposition since he first turned pro in 2013. There hasn’t been one halfway decent opponent that he’s faced yet, and you’ll still be able to say that after this Saturday’s mismatch between Joshua and Cornish.
If Hearn were to look at Joshua and his past history of fights, he’ll note that he essentially was beaten three times in the 2012 Olympics by Roberto Cammarelle, Erislandy Savon and Ivan Dychko. Joshua was almost beaten in a 4th match in the same Olympics by Zhang Zhilei from China.
Those fights were really the last time that Joshua faced quality opposition. What I’m saying is Joshua is still the same fighter that was arguably beaten left and right in the Olympics, which is why Hearn shouldn’t get so excited about his potential. The only thing that has chance since Joshua turned pro is the absolutely horrible match-making that Hearn has been doing for him by putting him in with very, very weak opposition in record-padding fights.
As such, Hearn might wind up crying crocodile tears over Joshua when/if he gets knocked out by Dillian Whyte on December 12th and badly exposed for the first time since he was exposed in the London Olympics with his gift wins.
“When I spoke to Fury in Leeds he was saying that if he beats Klitschko there is a rematch clause. If he beats him again, then we could be in for something special. AJ will be ready,” Hearn said.
Hearn is obviously getting way ahead of himself in assuming that Joshua will still be unbeaten by the time the smoke clears from the Klitschko-Fury fight. Joshua could very well be eliminated by Whyte long before ever getting a chance at fighting the winner of that fight. Further, Klitschko could wind up facing the talented WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs) if he gets past Fury in October, and that fight would likely take place in early 2016.
There’s no telling who would emerge as the top dog in a fight between Wilder and Klitschko. So even if Joshua were to get past his next three fights to get a shot at a world title, it might not be Klitschko or Fury that he’ll be facing. It might be the towering 6’7” knockout artist Deontay Wilder, and that would be a much different kettle of fish for the slow as molasses Joshua to be dealing with than against an aging Klitschko or a weak-punching Fury.
“It’s a real treat turning up in the gym to watch Anthony Joshua. You can literally see him improving every day and he is faster, stronger and sharper than I have ever seen him,” Hearn said.
How in the heck can Hearn tell if Joshua is improving or not just by watching Joshua workout at the gym? I mean, how do you tell if a fighter is improving when they’re simply going about their paces in working out? As far as I’m concerned, the only way to tell if a fighter is improving or not is to watch them fight high quality opposition. You can’t tell anything by watching them lift weights or hit the heavy bag in the gym.
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