Hearn: Joshua to face Pulev, Ortiz, and then Wilder

By Boxing News - 08/04/2017 - Comments

Image: Hearn: Joshua to face Pulev, Ortiz, and then Wilder

By Scott Gilfoid: IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs) has three potentially difficult fights ahead of him against Kubrat Pulev, Luis Ortiz and Deontay Wilder. The plan is for Joshua, 27, to fight all three of them consecutively without any breaks in between to fight softer opponents. It could be bad for Joshua. One of those three could deal him his first defeat.

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn says Deontay (38-0, 37 KOs) is on the bottom of the list. The International Boxing Federation has written language that states that Joshua can’t take a unification fight before he faces Pulev. They were going to allow Joshua to face Wladimir Klitshko in a rematch in November, but that’s not happening now given the retirement of the Ukrainian last Thursday.

The World Boxing Association gave Hearn and Joshua some bad news in ordering him to face #1 WBA Luis “King Kong” Ortiz (27-0, 23 Kos). That’s a fight that I’m sure Hearn would rather the put off if he could. But with it coming right before a unification fight against Deontay, Joshua might be a little shell shocked by the time he gets to the talented 6’7” American Olympian.

Pulev, 36, is probably not going to be too much of a problem for Joshua, as he was blown apart by Wladimir in 2014 in losing a 5th round knockout. Pulev isn’t a big puncher, and he doesn’t seem to handle taking head shots too well. Joshua will have a very hard time beating the 38-year-old Luis Ortiz. He might even lose to him depending on how much the Cuban has left at this point in his career. Ortiz hasn’t been a pro for very long, and he hasn’t taken a lot of punishment. However, due to Ortiz’s late start of his career

Here’s where the WBA orders Joshua to face Ortiz:

“WBA orders Joshua vs Ortiz. #WBAboxing @anthonyfjoshua.”

So there it is. Joshua has to fight Ortiz. This is not a good present for Joshua and Hearn, especially if Ortiz is able to push him and make him fight hard for more than one round. If Joshua gasses out like he did against Klitshko and Dillian Whyte, we could see him sent down to an early defeat at the hands of the southpaw Ortiz in late 2017.

The WBA further said this on their website at wbaboxing.com:

“According to the resolution sent on January 11th, 2017, to both parties, it was reported that the winner of the Joshua-Klitschko fight, held on April 29th, 2017, had to face Ortiz after 120 days. 95 days have passed and, for this reason, the Championships Committee ordered to negotiate a fight between the British and Cuban boxers. Both parties were duly notified that, as of August 3rd, they have 30 days to reach an agreement or the fight will be called to purse bids.”

Wow, this looks like Joshua isn’t going to have much time at all before he has to get inside the ring to face the hard hitting Ortiz. I just hope for Joshua’s sake that he doesn’t sustain any punishment in his fight against the 6’4 ½” Pulev. If Joshua is still licking his wounds from his fight with Pulev when he faces Ortiz, it could be bad for him.

I hate to say it but I think there’s a VERY good chance that Joshua will taste defeat in his next 3 fights. I mean, if Ortiz doesn’t do the job on Joshua, then Deontay likely will in my opinion. The problem that Joshua has is his stamina is just awful. He’s seemnigly incapable of fighting hard for even one round without emptying his energy reserves. Joshua is like a rocket ship that empties out his fuel just trying to escape earth’s gravity.

We saw how Joshua gassed in the 2nd round of his fight against Dillian Whyte in 2015 and in the 6th round of his match against Klitschko last April. In both instances, Joshua needed 3 rounds to get his second wind. If Joshua hits rock bottom in fading against Ortiz or Wilder, he’s going to get smashed to bits. I’m just saying. I’m hoping that doesn’t happen, because I personally want to see who the better man is in those fights.

If Joshua loses because he gases out, we won’t get a clear picture of who the better man is. All we’ll know is that Joshua didn’t have the cardiovascular system to beat Ortiz or Wilder. My advice to Joshua is for him to shed 30 pounds of his unneeded muscles to get down to a more manageable weight of 220 lbs. or so before he faces Ortiz or Wilder.

I thought Joshua was a much better fighter back in 2009 before he started lifting weights and building his body with useless beach muscles. Look at Deontay. He only weighs in the mid-220s, and he’s incredibly powerful and as quick as a cat. You don’t see Wilder gassing out in his fights. He can move for the entire 12 rounds if he wants to. Joshua can’t do that because he’s carrying too much extra weight.

“Obviously we now have to fight Pulev and Ortiz and it’s going to be a tough balancing act,” said Hearn to skysports.com in talking about Joshua’s woes of having to fight some tough opponents. “I would say right now the plan is Pulev, Ortiz then if Wilder still has a belt, then AJ can relieve him of that next summer.”

Hearn needs to stop complaining and get Joshua in the gym so he can start getting ready for these three fights. He’s been resting on his laurels ever since his close call in the Klitschko fight on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Hearn needs to accept that Joshua is going to have some tough fights, and he may lose to one or more of these guys. If Hearn doesn’t like the idea of Joshua fighting Ortiz or Deontay, then he can always choose not to make them.

There’s no loss if Joshua never fights Wilder. It’s not as if the sanctioning bodies will strip him of any of his titles. It just means that he’ll never have a chance of adding Wilder’s WBC belt to his collection of straps. However, if Joshua doesn’t fight Ortiz, there will be some repercussions in terms of him being stripped of his WBA strap by the sanctioning bodies. Hard fights go with the territory.

Hearn has been bragging about how good Joshua is for the last two years. Now that Joshua is about to finally be tested for the first time in his career against younger guys that could potentially beat him, Hearn is seeing how tough it’s going to be for Joshua. The thing is, this isn’t the end for Joshua.

It’s just the beginning. Assuming that Joshua is able to successfully run the gauntlet against Pulev, Ortiz and Wilder and making it through it in one piece, he’ll still need to capture the WBO heavyweight title from the hard hitting Joseph Parker. That’s not going to be an easy fight.

Parker will be a little bit older and more experienced by the time that Joshua is ready to fight him. This could go badly for Joshua. It would be great for the boxing world if Joshua is able to beat all of those guys, because if would give the fans one single unified champion. I just don’t know that he can do so.

There are some younger heavyweights that are coming up the ranks that one day could give Joshua huge problems. I’m talking about Joe Joyce, Daniel Dubois and Tony Yoka. Dubois and Joyce are both said to have given Joshua problems in sparring with him. Dubois dropped Joshua. In a year or two, Joyce will be ready to fight Joshua. Heck, I think Joyce is ready now, but he’s obviously not ranked due to him just starting his pro career. Dubois is likely 3 to 5 years away from getting a title shot against Joshua if he’s still a world champion.