By Scott Gilfoid: David Haye says he was surprised at the rabid improvement Anthony Joshua made after he turned pro in 2013 following a gold medal victory in the 2012 London Olympics. Haye says he saw Joshua as a contender in the future, but he was surprised that he was able to move past that.
Joshua is now the IBF heavyweight champion and he’s successfully defended the title twice in beating Dominic Breazeale and Eric Molina. Joshua is about to make his third defense of his title in two months from now against 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko on April 29 in front of 90,000 boxing fans at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
“Not really, I didn’t see it for a long time, to be honest,” Haye said to skysports.com about a potential fight between him and the 6’6” Joshua. “His progression was really steep. It was only when he won the British title and started knocking on the world door that I thought ‘this kid could be a contender when I come back.”
Well, we don’t know how good Joshua is still because he’s been facing weak heavyweights since he turned pro. The guys that Joshua has fought thus far are fighters that guys like Luis Ortiz, Jarrell Miller and even Klitschko could beat. If Ortiz, Miller and Klitschko all fought the same 18 fighters that Joshua has fought since he turned pro, I suspect that they would have an identical record as he does at 18-0 with 18 knockouts.
Let’s be serious. Joshua has been spoon fed fodder opposition thus far, and it’s impossible to know if he’s improved since winning the controversial gold medal in the 2012 Olympics or not. Personally, I think Joshua was a better fighter in 2012 than he is now. Heck, even in 2009, Joshua looked like a better fighter than he is now. He had a lot less muscle on his frame and he was much faster of hand and foot. His stamina looked better as well. Joshua could throw sustained combinations without gasping for breath and needing a breather.
We all saw how tired Joshua got in his fight against Dillian Whyte in round 2 when he was forced to throw a lot of punches. Joshua was gassed out for two rounds after that. When Joshua was an amateur, he was capable of throwing fast punches for the full three minutes of every round without getting tired. Of course, that was when Joshua was weighing around 220. Since turning pro in 2013, Joshua has packed on 30 pounds of muscle and is now weighing 250lbs. Joshua put on a lot of what I consider to be beach muscle that hasn’t improved his performances. The only thing I can see that the added muscle has done to Joshua is make him slower and more in need of rest breaks.
Haye will be fighting cruiserweight Tony Bellew next month on March 4 at the O2 Arena in London, UK. It’s more or a less a stay busy fight for Haye to get him some rounds in. Unfortunately, the fight promises to be a one-rounder with Haye likely knocking Bellew out in the 1st round. The only way I can see Bellew lasting more than one round is if Haye takes it easy on him in order to give the boxing fans more viewing action.