By Jeff Aronow: Anthony Joshua says Tyson Fury is a “new man” now that he’s gotten a couple of wins over “soft touches” under his belt, and he’s now ready to defeat Deontay Wilder in the rematch on February 22.
Joshua points out that the objective in boxing is to hit and not take shots back from your opponent. With that in mind, Joshua sees the 6’9″ Fury using his long jab to control the powerful Wilder to keep him from landing big right hand show-stopper.
Joshua states that Fury’s mental health problems and his weight issues are a thing of the past, and he’s under the opinion that he’ll outbox Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) to take his WBC heavyweight title from him.
Joshua using Klitschko style of fighting now
Ever since Joshua adopted the defensive-minded Wladimir Klitschko style of fighting, he’s learned to appreciate the way that Fury fights. Rather than viewing Fury as boring to watch, and labeling him as an ugly spoiler, as many have, Joshua is now appreciative of his style. You can say that Joshua likes the timid approach that Wladimir used, and he sees it as a good thing for Fury.
Tyson Fury will win – Joshua
“We’ve been debating this as well, but me, I believe Fury will win, because Wilder has shown that you can’t blink for a second with him, because all it takes is one punch against [Luis] Ortiz,” said Joshua to Sky Sports Boxing in picking Fury to defeat Wilder. “But against a good boxer, who is young and fresh and can follow a game plan, can be victorious for 7 or x-amount of rounds,” said Joshua.
Is Joshua bitter and resentful of Wilder?
It’s difficult to know whether Joshua is on the level about his belief that Fury will win the rematch with Deontay. You can argue that Joshua is seemingly VERY bitter in the same way Dillian Whyte appears to be towards Wilder, because he’s wanted to fight him since 2018.
Wilder wasn’t agreeable to the flat fee that were offered to him by Joshua and his promoter. In hindsight, Wilder did the right thing in choosing not to agree to a flat fee for the Joshua fight, because he would have received far less than what the fight would have pulled in.
Assuming that Joshua isn’t coming from a place of being disgruntled and resentful of Wilder, he’s going out on a limb in picking Fury right now. Fury was knocked out by Wilder last time they fought, and he looked horrific in his last fight against Otto Wallin. The light hitting Wallin hd Fury on Bambi legs in the 12th, and the fight should have been stopped due to Tyson’s cut.
Fury’s weight loss hasn’t helped him
Boxers like Joshua have taken a wishful thinking approach to believing that Fury has improved with his 2 tuneups and his weight loss. The reality is, Fury doesn’t look improved since losing weight since his fight with Wilder.
Joshua: Fury has a good chance of beating Wilder
“Boxing is about hitting and not getting hit, and Ortiz got hit with a big punch,” Joshua said on Wilder’s recent stoppage win over Ortiz. “But Fury is quite evasive, and Fury is a lot bigger, Fury boxes back and flicks his jab. He is quite difficult to hit.
“Fury fought Wilder the first time after a long layoff, and Fury has taken some relatively soft touch fights,” said Joshua. “He’s [Fury] going into the new year, I think, as a new man with a new team and a new mindset. He’s over his mental health issues. So he must feel something in him that he feels is new, and he wants to be the new heavyweight champion of the world.
“And so I think Fury has a good chance of beating Wilder, provided that he follows his game plan for the 12 rounds,” said Joshua.
Wilder seems to know Fury now, and he’s going to be ready for all the tricks that he tries in the rematch. You can believe that Wilder’s sparring partners will have him ready for Fury’s nonstop feints, his shifty footwork that he’ll be using in the fight.
Fury can’t fight defensively for 12 rounds
The downside of the 6’9″ Fury using his safety first style of fighting is that takes a tremendous amount of energy to fight like that, which is why he fades in the later rounds. Fury can fight with a lot of energy for 8 rounds using his evasive style of fighting, but then he gasses and becomes flat-footed and hittable starting in the 9th. Fury looks great when he’s transformed from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. But when that energy wears off after 8 rounds, Fury is back to his old self, and he’s vulnerable to Wilder’s shots.