Is Anthony Joshua being rushed to title against Charles Martin?

By Boxing News - 02/18/2016 - Comments

joshua6By Gerardo Granados: Next April 9 at the O2 Arena, Greenwich, London, the IBF heavyweight belt holder Prince Charles Martin W23(21)-L0-D1 6´5″ height and 80″ reach will fight against a promising “prospect” named Anthony Joshua W15(15)-L0-D0. But is the young lion ready? It is hard to believe that an inexperienced prospect would be given a shot at the title too soon with just 15 fights and no real experience defeating top ten contenders.

Joshua was blessed by the boxing gods with superior physical attributes than many of his peers. At 6´6″ height and 82″ reach; strong 238 pounds of solid muscle and freakish punching power in both hands. But, it seems his boxing skills haven´t improved to the level of top competition just yet.

There is no doubt the young lion still has plenty of room for improvement. Right now he seems like a one-dimensional boxer. To deny it would be useless.

Joshua needs to work on his footwork and must improve his jab, also, could learn to throw more combinations and faints. Joshua must learn how to impose the distance and tempo of the fight. His defense is average, leaves big holes to be countered even if he has the height and reach advantage. He simply relies too much on his size, strength and power.

I think it is very important for him to develop an inside game, if not he could carry on that weakness until the end of his career.

Prince Charles Martin ended up becoming the IBF belt holder but it is not easy to believe he could have beaten Wladimir Klitschko to win the heavyweight Championship. None the less he is a real challenge for Joshua, who is inexperienced, and now Anthony could end up winning a belt without being ready to defend it against top ten contenders.

For WBC heavyweight belt holder Deontay Wilder it is too late to develop his boxing skills and Joshua could follow into his steps. I expected that Wilder would´ve been managed differently and him to have developed his overall boxing skills prior a title bout. But it seems the Bronze Bomber will inherit a similar boxing style to the one Rocky Marciano had: all grit and punching power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWVCYAYlyOc

Joshua is a big attraction in the United Kingdom; he even has headed Pay Per View events drawing good numbers. The young lion has it all to become a boxing great in my eyes, but to me if he is rushed to the title then we the fight fans might miss the chance to see a special boxer become one of the best heavyweights and instead become just a huge earner.

Time will tell if they were right to give him a title shot so soon. Maybe Joshua has reached his boxing skills level potential yet, or perhaps if his management had been patient enough Joshua would have been able to evolve into a better boxer.

I think Anthony Joshua is being rushed to the title too soon. But, what about the readers, do you agree?



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