By Allan Fox: It would be a bad idea for IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to assume that his title defense against past his best IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev to be a routine fight when the two face each other on June 20th or July.
Trainer Adam Booth says the 38-year-old Pulev’s experience as a pro makes him too risky for Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) to overlook. Joshua, 29, already looked past Andy Ruiz Jr. last June and paid a huge price by getting stopped in the 7th round last year.
What that fight told us about Joshua is he doesn’t have the punch resistance or the stamina to assume that he’s going to beat any of the top contenders. I am talking about top contenders, not bottom level guys.
Pulev has too much experience for Joshua to dismiss him
“Dangerous attitude to take. Anything can happen in boxing, especially with the heavyweights,” said Adam Booth to IFL TV when asked if Joshua’s title defense against Pulev and Dillian Whyte’s fight against Alexander Povetkin will be a ‘routine fights?’
“Both Pulev and Povetkin are past their primes, but both have a lot of experience, and they know how to look after themselves. Povetkin especially can hit hard, and he’s got a lot of experience,” said Booth.
Pulev comes into the fight with Joshua with a great amateur pedigree, and 11 years of experience as a professional. He’s shared the ring with former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2014 and stunned him early on with a hard shot. Pulev lost the fight by a 5th round knockout to Wladimir, but he had his moments.
Joshua is very likely going to be imitating Wladimir with his fighting style, and he’s going to allow Pulev to box him. Pulev is a more advanced heavyweight than the guys that Joshua has been fighting recently. Andy Ruiz Jr. is a good fighter, but his boxing skills are rudimentary at best. That’s one of the reasons why Joseph Parker had so much success against Ruiz.
Joshua vs. Pulev could be moved to July due to the COVID 10 pandemic, which is hitting the UK and U.S hard now. It’s still not showing signs of retreating, and it’s likely to still be causing the world population misery in June.
Pushing the fight back a month to July probably won’t make any difference in terms of a decrease in the number of cases.
Pulev has a chance against Joshua
“He’s been stopped by Wlad?” said Booth about Povetkin. “If you look at two fighters in their prime against two fighters that seem to be past their prime but they still carry that experience, you would strongly favor Joshua and Whyte to win. But don’t sleep on these older fellows that are capable and can still punch.
“If you do, you’ll get a surprise,” said Booth. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Joshua allowed himself to be complacent or maybe not even complacent. Be distracted by the business, and not be what he needs to be as a fighter, because he paid the ultimate price that night [against Andy Ruiz Jr. last June].
“Because he had such a value as a fighting commodity, he was able to have that rematch straight away and get it back. He had that golden ticket to right that wrong,
“They’re both good fighters, and they both know what they’re doing,” said Booth when asked if he’d be willing to train Tyson Fury or Joshua. “I’d like to think that I can work with different styles,” said Booth.
Joshua doesn’t have to be complacent to potentially lose to the 6’4 1/2″ Pulev. If he gets hit with one of Pulev’s shots, he could get hurt. While it’s true that Pulev isn’t the biggest puncher, though no one really knows for sure what kind of power he has. Pulev rarely sits down on his shots, but when he does, he knocks guys out.
Joshua’s punch resistance may still be shaky from his first fight with Ruiz in 2019. He looked like he was concussed in that fight, In the rematch, Ruiz didn’t get a chance to test Joshua’s chin because he was too heavy, and he didn’t have a stationary target.
Hearn: Joshua insists on fighting Pulev in the UK
“A requirement for Anthony in his next fight, a necessity for him was to box in the UK,” said Hearn to skysports.com. “June 20 is a long time away, it’s still in our plans. We have been speaking to Tottenham and making sure that we’re all on the same page.”
It would be bad for Joshua if were to lose to Pulev in front of his own British boxing fans. AJ would be regretting taking the fight to the UK rather than going back to Saudi or staging it in another part of the world.
It’s a nice gesture that Joshua is showing his British fans by staging the Pulev fight in that country. Obviously, the fans would have preferred that Joshua have staged his rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr. in the UK rather than a fight against 38-year-old Pulev, who is a big underdog.
It probably won’t matter where Joshua fights Pulev in the world. If the COVID 19 virus is still around, the fight will be at risk of being postponed. The only place where it might be safe for Joshua and Pulev to fight is in Antarctica.
So there are no cases of the coronavirus over there. Of course, of Joshua and Pulev’s boxing fans follow them to a desolate place like Antarctica, they could be bringing the deadly virus with them.