By Scott Gilfoid: Lennox Lewis thinks it’s time for Anthony Joshua to step up against the top heavyweights Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury after he deals with his WBA mandatory Alexander Povetkin this Saturday night at Wembley Stadium in London, UK.
Lewis wants Joshua to show that he wants to prove that he’s the best in the division. He hasn’t done that thus far in facing the likes of Eric Molina, 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker and Carlos Takam. The perception from the boxing public is Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn don’t fancy the idea of facing Deontay, so they’re taking the easy fights against guys that they see as winnable fight.
“Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury stands out, Deontay stands out. There’s a lot of heavyweights that are standing out, but there’s a few of them have a lot to learn still,” Lewis said to Sky Sports News. “It will come out in the end who really steps up. Hopefully they’ll get the ball rolling soon.”
It’s got to be tough for former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC heavyweight champion Lewis to understand a fighter like Joshua, because he was always chasing the top heavyweights in his era. Lewis wanted to fight the best like Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Evander Holyfield, and Tommy Morrison.
Lewis didn’t always get all of those guys to fight him, but he wanted to face them at least. In Joshua’s case, he seems to be dodging the top guys in the division. He didn’t ever fight David Haye, Luis Ortiz, and he waited until 2017 to finally fight Wladimir. Why didn’t Joshua try to fight Wladimir in 2013 when the Ukrainian was a little younger? Why hasn’t Joshua fought Wilder or Luis Ortiz? It looks really bad. Is Joshua waiting Wilder and Ortiz out until they’re old men before he fighs them? Why did Joshua wait until Povetkin was 39-years-old before finally fighting him? I mean, there are a lot of questions that need answers as far as why Joshua has never fought these guys.
Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) will be defending his IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight belts against Povetkin in front of what could be 90,000 boxing fans at Wembley Stadium this Saturday. The Joshua-Povetkin fight will be televised on Sky Box Office PPV. A lot of Joshua’s boxing fans will be purchasing the fight on Sky Box Office pay-per-view, and the ones that don’t purchase it, a lot of them will be showing up to see it live at Wembley Stadium.
What’s interesting and more than a little troubling is Joshua, 6’6”, says he really wants the unification fight against Deontay in his next fight after the Povetkin bout this Saturday, and yet he’s turning down huge offers of $50 million to fight him. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has already said that his main options for AJ’s next fight on April 13 is Dillian Whyte and Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller. Those are both guys signed to Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing stable. If the idea is for Hearn to keep signing different heavyweights in order to have in house Matchroom stable fights involving his own guys, then Wilder might be frozen out ions and never put in with Joshua.
I’m just saying. When a promoter isn’t interested in taking a risk with their gravy train fighter, then you see the type of match-making Hearn has been doing with Joshua. I know I’s got to be frustrating for Lewis, because he obviously would like to see Joshua follow his lead and go after the fights hat he would if he were still fighting, but I don’t know that Joshua has it in him to be like Lewis. It starts with courage. If you don’t have the courage, then it’s a waste of time.
“I know it’s going to be a 50-50 fight, because of my lack of experience in terms of rounds,” Joshua said to skysports.com.
Does that sound like a confident fighter? Joshua already sounds beaten before he’s even gotten in he ring with Wilder. That might help explain why Joshua hasn’t fought him. It starts with the fighter himself. If a guy doesn’t fancy the fight, then you sure as heck can’t expect his promoter to be the one to help him grow some confidence. Hearn has a good thing going right now with Joshua. That’s Hearn’s flags ship fighter. If Joshua gets knocked cold by Wilder, then the money might dry up and the stadium fights could disappear. Yeah, Hearn can keep booking Wembley Stadium, but we might see greatly reduced crows in the teens rather than the 70,000 to 90,000 fans that could be in attendance on Saturday.
Povetkin, 6’2”, has a small chance of beating Joshua if he can last long enough to land something big on his shaky chin. You have to expect a referee that will make it tough for Povetkin to do much in the fight. We could see that play out with a referee that pulls Povetkin off of Joshua each time he gets close enough to land a shot like we saw in the Joshua vs. Joseph Parker fight. If we don’t see that kind of thing by the referee, then there’s always the chance the referee will halt the fight quickly like we saw with Joshua’s fight with Carlos Takam in which the referee jumped in and stopped the contest in the 10th round after AJ landed a few punches. Takam looked perfectly fine, but the referee stopped it anyway. The fans were irate at the senseless stoppage. I really hope the referee lets he fight play out without inserting himself into the outcome of the fight.