By Scott Gilfoid: While David Haye is talking up a fight against unbeaten Anthon Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) in hopes of facing him this year, Joshua appears to be more interested in facing unbeaten IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs).
Joshua says he wants to face Fury, and he can’t wait to get the 6’9” fighter in the ring. Joshua feels that he’s going to get better as he picks up more experience and confidence from his wins. He also sees Fury as a clown and is irritated by him.
I don’t know why it would bother Joshua with Fury being a clown. Is it jealousy perhaps? Fury is getting a lot of attention when he opens his yap. Is Joshua not liking that Fury is getting attention? Does he want Fury just to stay quiet?
“I think he’s a bit of a clown, to be honest. I find him a bit irritating but that’s him. If that works for him, so be it,” Joshua said to skysports.com. “I can’t wait to fight him. As time goes on, I think it’s going to get worse for these lot because my confidence will grow as I keep training, learning, working on stuff I’ve been working on for years. As soon as it clicks, I can take it further and I feel confident of beating these guys.”
I get the feeling that Joshua feels that if he beats Fury, he’ll win over the fans that Fury has accumulated in recent years, and leave him a fighter with no followers. I hate to say it but I think that’s not going to work. Fury is one of those guys that will continue to be popular no matter how many defeats he has. He’s got a personality and boxing is the entertainment business.
The sooner Joshua finds that out the better it’ll be for him, because he needs to loosen up and try and win over some fans with his personality rather than just depending on winning fans by blitzing his opponents in the ring. Fury is using a different approach to win fans by being a personality outside the ring, and then looking to entertain inside the ring as well.
I think Joshua needs to focus on his task at hand. He’d got a fight next month on April 9 against IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin, who has the exact same size as him, but who is more athletic and versatile. Martin isn’t weighed down with useless body building muscles that serve no purpose other than to look good on the beach or the weight room. This is going to be one fight where Joshua isn’t coming in with a size advantage over some poor stiff that was signed up by his promoter Eddie Hearn and thrown into the ring with Joshua.
Joshua did beat a bigger fighter than himself in 6’7” Gary Cornish last year, but he was just plain awful. Cornish might as well have been 5’7”, because he was just a terrible fighter. Martin has actual talent as well as size, and I see him giving Joshua all kinds of problems in this fight starting with his southpaw stance.
Martin is a very accurate puncher, and he’s definitely going to take advantage of Joshua’s sloppy fighting style once he bum rushes him in the early rounds. Joshua says he’s learning how to be calm in the ring and not rush things. I don’t believe it. Joshua has always bum rushed his opponents, even in the amateur ranks, and I don’t see him changing his stripes for his fight against Martin next month. Joshua is too set in his ways to change anything at this point in his career.
“I need people like David Haye, Dillian Whyte, David Price, Dereck Chisora and Tyson Fury,” said Joshua. “These are the guys I need on my soil. The cream always rises to the top. I’m just sitting back. I’ve been watching them for a couple of years and after I win on April 9, I’m going to knock on their doors.”
Why in the heck is Joshua mentioning David Price? I can’t believe he’s mentioning Price’s name. I’ve lost track of all of his knockout losses. Joshua might as well add Audley Harrison to that list, because he would fit in nicely. I also don’t understand why Joshua would want to fight Dereck Chisora? He was recently beaten by Fury for the second time. Since then, Chisora has been facing nothing but 3rd tier opposition.
Why would Joshua want to fight Chisora? I could understand it if Joshua loses to Martin on April 9. Joshua could then fight Chisora as a confidence booster type of fight. But if Joshua wins the IBF heavyweight title, what in the world would he be doing giving a title shot to Chisora? I mean, how would Chisora have earned a title shot given how terrible he looked in losing to Fury?
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