By Scott Gilfoid: British heavyweight Anthony Joshua (13-0, 13 KOs) weighed in at a career high of 249 pounds on Friday at his weigh-in for his bout this Saturday night against unbeaten Gary Cornish (21-0, 12 KOs) at the O2 Arena in London, UK. For his part, the 6’7” Cornish also came in at a career high weight in weighing in at 256lbs.
This is six pounds heavier than his highest weight of 250lbs in his last fight against Zoltan Csala last May.
Joshua, 6’6”, has gained 20 pounds since he turned pro in October of 2013. Most of the weight appears to be in the form of muscle in his upper body from his weight lifting that he’s been doing. Joshua has added 10 pounds of weight since September of 2014.
For anyone that’s lifted weights before, it’s extremely hard to add that much muscle in just one year without much of it being fat. In looking at Joshua’s fights a year ago when he was a slightly learner 240, he appears to be faster last year with the same power.
When you go back to 2013 to see Joshua at a leaner 230, he was faster still than he is now. I can’t see any difference in his punching power. As such, I have to conclude that the muscle weight that Joshua has put on since he turned pro in 2013 is mostly just for cosmetic appearances rather than it being something that has helped him become a better fighter.
What will be interesting to see is how much more weight that Joshua puts on from his weight lifting. At age 25, you’ve got assume that Joshua’s metabolism will slow as he gets older. You’ve also got to assume that he’s going to keep lifting weights.
So what I expect is we could eventually see Joshua in the 260s and even the 270s before we know it. When you’re talking about a heavyweight that size, you’re talking about a fighter with zero hand speed and likely stamina problems. I think Joshua will eventually lift himself to the point where he’ll resemble Primo Canera, and fight much like him as well.
Unbeaten heavyweight Dillian Whyte (15-0, 12 KOs) weighed in at 249 pounds for his fight against journeyman Brian Minto (41-9, 26 KOs) for the vacant WBC International Silver heavyweight title. Minto weighed in at 211 pounds. Minto is so low because he’s more like a cruiserweight than a heavyweight. He’s obviously a very small heavyweight. For Whyte, the 249 pounds is normal for him. He hasn’t taken up weight lifting to put on a ton of bulk like we’ve seen from Joshua.
“I think if I fought the people he [Joshua] fought, I’d have done the same things he’s done,” Cornish said via skysports.com. “I’m bigger than him. I’m heavier than him, so why should I be afraid of him. All these people that do lots of talking. I just let them get on with it. It doesn’t bother me.”
Yeah, Cornish is slightly heavier than the 249lb Joshua, but he’s also a lot slower than him, and that’s obviously not good. Cornish also isn’t a big puncher, and that’s going to doom him to lose this fight on Saturday. Without power, Cornish won’t have a chance against Joshua. Eddie Hearn, the promoter for Joshua, has done a good job of selecting Cornish to fight instead of someone good.
Prediction: Joshua by 1st round knockout.
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