by Scott Gilfoid: American challenger Dominic Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs) had IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (16-0, 16 KOs) about to blow his top earlier Wednesday during their face off in London to promote their June 25 fight on Sky Box Office at the O2 Arena in London.
The two fighters were posing for photographs when the friction started. They turned around and had a face off, and during this time, Breazeale had some words with the 6’6” Joshua that got him hopping made. In analyzing the two fighters body language, I think Joshua looked scared. He seemed unnerved completely with the words and the icy cool coming from the big 6’7” Breazeale.
You have to remember that Breazeale is the older fighter at 31, and you could tell he was the more mature guy of the two. Joshua looked like a big kid staring up at his elder, and he was clearly bothered in a way I’ve never seen before form him. Breazeale really got to him mentally and I have to say there’s some fear there with Joshua. I didn’t see any fear coming from Breazeale. As I said, I saw icy cool coming from him.
“It started on the grass. AJ was chilled and they squared up. Anthony went to shake his hand and he pushed his hand down and squared up to him out of the blue,” said Hearn to skysports.com.
I didn’t see Breazeale pushing Joshua’s hand down, as Hearn is squawking about. In watching the video, you can clearly see Breazeale shaking Joshua’s hand, not pushing it down. I think Hearn must be seeing things if he believes that Breazeale pushed Joshua’s hand down when he attempted to shake his hand. Breazeale was a professional in shaking Joshua’s hand. The problems started between these two giant heavyweights during the face off.
I think Breazeale said some things and then Joshua fired back with a comment of his own that got the ball rolling. It then took life with Joshua losing his cool and his voice breaking from emotion/nerves.
“It wasn’t even supposed to be a face-off. The face-off was supposed to be inside. I’ve not really seen Joshua lose his rag before,” said Hearn. “Breazeale is very confident. He’s got the schooling that [Charles] Martin never had. Breazeale has pedigree and the way he talks shows you he’s been around it. He’s not fazed,” said Breazeale.
Well, based on some of the things Breazeale said about the Joshua vs. Charles Martin fight, I have a feeling that Breazeale isn’t just going to stand there and wait for Joshua to punch his lights out on June 25 the way that Martin did in his fight with Joshua last April. Martin was just hanging around and not doing anything. I think he was waiting for Joshua to get tired from throwing punches so he could jump on him in the later rounds. Martin was just a punching bag in that fight.
Breazeale doesn’t sound like he’s going to be letting Joshua get out of this fight without getting hit. Breazeale has good punching power and the kind of size that will cause Joshua big time problems. If Dillian Whyte was able to stagger Joshua with one good shot, Breazeale could do far worse if he’s able to bounce some big right hands off his grill in this fight.
The thing that could cause Joshua’s downfall in this fight is if Breazeale is able to take him to the later rounds of the fight. All that beach muscle that Joshua has packed on since he turned pro in 2013, could wind up being lead weights for him to carry around the ring. It’s got to be hard on Joshua’s heart to be pumping blood to 250lbs of muscle rather than the lead 220lb frame that he started his pro career with three short years ago.
You don’t add 30 pounds of muscle in a few years without it becoming difficult to carry that useless weight around. Joshua isn’t any stronger than he was back in the Olympics, and he definitely isn’t any faster. Breazeale thinks Joshua was gifted his Olympic gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics, because he thought he was beaten in his first fight by Erislandy Savon of Cuba and in the finals against Italy’s Roberto Cammarelle. I agree with Breazeale, but I think Joshua was beaten in two of his other matches as well in that Olympics. I’m just saying. He didn’t look so good back then. Joshua has done better as a pro because he’s not been fighting that caliber of opponent in his 16 fights thus far. I think someone like Savon or Cammarelle would be a nightmare for Joshua now.
“He was one of the top US amateurs. A very, very good amateur,” said Hearn. “He definitely hits harder than Martin and is a lot bigger. I think Breazeale’s best chance in this fight is to go out all guns blazing and go for the knockout. I think that’s what he’ll do,” said Hearn.
I agree with Hearn. I think Breazeale is going to come out fast on June 25 and look to KO Joshua immediately. I think that’s something that has Joshua worried because he’s got to know that there’s a chance he could lose a fight like that. When you have two big heavyweights trading in the opening round, a 50-50 affair could go either way. I mean, the less talented fighter could win under those circumstances. We saw how Lennox Lewis beat Riddick Bowe in the Olympics, and Bowe was clearly the better fighter as a pro than Lewis and with a much more entertaining fighting style. Lewis was pretty timid as a pro when fighting quality guys.
I think Hearn may have made a royal blunder in selecting the 6’7” Breazeale as Joshua’s next opponent rather than hand-picking another opponent like Charles Martin, who would just stand that and let Joshua have at it. Joshua is easy to hit and his stamina is still very much in question. Breazeale could hurt Joshua early with one of his bombs, or he could wear him down by taking him deep into the fight. If Joshua loses this fight, my guess is Hearn will be crying crocodile tears. It would mean no Joshua vs. Tyson Fury fight for the time being.