By Scott Gilfoid: As everyone saw last night, Commonwealth heavyweight strap holder Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) did away with Dillian Whyte (16-1, 13 KOs) in stopping him in the 7th round in their big British fight at the O2 Arena in London, UK. I think Whyte is little more than Dereck Chisora 2.0. The win over Whyte proved nothing for Joshua, because he didn’t beat a top quality guy and he got badly hurt in the process. I see Whyte as a slightly bigger version of Chisora, but without his stamina.
In looking at some of fawning press that has been spit out by the media, you would think that Joshua had fought the perfect fight and really shined in the ring while beating the 27-year-old Whyte. I’m sorry but I wasn’t in the least impressed with Joshua. In fact, the lumbering 6’6” over-muscled Joshua did little than affirmed my previous opinions of him.
With the little bit of pressure that Whyte put on Joshua in the first two rounds, he already had him gassed out. If Whyte hadn’t tired out after just two rounds, he wouldn’t have let Joshua get his second wind in the 5th and go and defeat him.
What I saw from Joshua last night, he won’t stand a chance against a talented heavyweight with, hand speed, mobility and punching power like Deontay Wilder. I think Joshua would get pole-axed by Wilder in the first three rounds. Joshua might be able to beat a guy with worse stamina problems than him in Dillian Whyte, but I don’t think he beats Deontay. No way. Even past his prime Wladimir Klitschko would have done a number on Joshua last night in my view.
Did you see the way that Joshua stumbling around the canvas after Whyte nailed him with a left hook in the 2nd round? Now picture what would have happened if that was Wladimir or Deontay that nailed Joshua with a big punch. They would have finished him off with straight hands without even getting messy and out of breath the way Whyte was last night.
Heck, beat himself. Joshua didn’t beat him. Whyte basically beat himself by getting so out of breath while fighting. Whyte looked like he was hyperventilating in the ring after the 2nd round. He went into vapor lock by failing to fight in a controlled manner. As a professional, you’re supposed to know how hard you can fight without going into vapor lock the way Whyte did, but he stupidly let himself get tired by fighting at a faster pace that his plump body would allow him to.
To me, Joshua looked like an awful amateur with the way he was fighting in a robotic way, pushing arm punches, and unable to bend forward when throwing his shots. He was straight up and down the entire time like a wind up soldier. He had too much muscle on his frame and was heaving for air after just two rounds. The fight would be basically over after the 2nd round if Joshua was in the ring with Deontay, because he would have jumped all over Joshua in the 3rd round for the coup de grace.
I don’t give Joshua any credit for the win over Whyte, because it was too flawed of a performance from him, and Whyte lost the fight himself. Whyte could have been in the ring with David Price or Dereck Chisora last night, and I think he would have still lost the fight after he gassed out. Whyte had NOTHING left on his punches after the 2nd round. He exhausted and his arms looked like they rubbery.
Whyte wasn’t doing anything more than throwing weak arm punches and his legs looked weak in a way that showed to me that he was totally 100 percent spent. When you’re as tired as Whyte was, you’re not going to get a second wind, because you’ve gone past what your body is capable. Even guys like Price and Chisora would have cleaned up on Whyte last night if they were able to get out of the 2nd round. I mean, I don’t think Price could make it past two against Whyte, but I think Chisora could. I’m not saying I think Chisora is a good fighter. I’m saying Whyte’s stamina last night was absolutely HORRIBLE.
Whyte may have lost the fight last night, but exposed Joshua by showing that he cannot handle pressure, he’s got poor stamina, he’s easy to hit, and he goes wild whenever he lands a big punch. Joshua was literally trying to jump on Whyte each time he landed anything clean. It was as if Joshua had been preconditioned to think that every time he connects cleanly, it means he’s got his opponent hurt, so he should jump on them.
Believe me, that’s a product of all that gawd awful match-making that Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has done for him. He’s matched Joshua against so many fodder opponents that he thinks that he’s got someone hurt whenever he lands anything. Someone needs to wean Joshua out of that because he’s not going to go far in the pros being so overanxious each time he lands.
It tells me that there’s some concern on Joshua’s part about going rounds. I guess being as heavy as the 250lb Joshua is, it probably is exhausting and painful to lug all that muscle around the ring for more than 3 rounds. So when he lands something, he wants to jump on his opponent immediately to try and make it an early night’s work.
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