By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua is hoping that he can face Tyson Fury later this year in a fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship in December if the two win their next fights.
Joshua says Fury is at a high point of his career at this moment due to his win over WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder on February 22. But if he beats in their trilogy fight on July 18th, then he’ll be facing one of the “young gunners.”
Joshua (23-1, 21 Kos) has to beat Kubrat Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs) on June 20th in London, and the Bulgarian’s promoter Bob Arum is already predicting that AJ is going to lose that fight. It would be bad for Joshua to lose again just as he’s on the cusp of getting the Fury to fight become the undisputed heavyweight champion.
Andy Ruiz Jr. already beat Joshua last year in halting him in 7 rounds to derail his dreams of fighting Wilder. Fury then foiled Joshua’s plans of facing Wilder by stopping him in the 7th round last February.
Joshua: Fury is on a high right now
“The fight can happen when Tyson Fury gets passed Deontay Wilder, and I get passed Kubrat Pulev. If Fury wants that fight to happen, it’ll happen. Congratulations on his last performance,” said Joshua. to @LandRover.
“He’s had two good fights in his career, in my opinion, Klitschko, and Wilder, and he’s managed to win them both so he’s on a high right now. But he has to be careful what he wishes for because the young gunners are coming up,” said Joshua.
AJ seems to be calling himself a “young gunner.” You can’t say that Joshua is “coming up” because he’ been there already for many years.
What Joshua seems to be saying is Fury’s resume is thin once you take out his wins over Wladimir and Wilder. Once those two are removed, you’re left with Fury’s wins over Dereck Chisora, Otto Wallin, and Christian Hammer. those fringe level contenders and not among the A-level guys in the division.
Is Fury’s victories over Klitschko and Wilder as good as they appear? Wladimir was 38 and shot by the time Fury fought him in 2015, and he was nowhere near the same fighter he’d been. Although the punching power was still there for Wladimir, his timing, reflexes, and accuracy were gone.
Wladimir’s trainer Emanuel Steward had passed away several years earlier in 2012, and he seemed rudderless without him. Fury was an opportunist in taking advantage of Wladimir’s age, inactivity and the fact that his longtime trainer was gone. The motivation was no longer there for Wladimir. He was already wealthy, and he didn’t have the same hunger that he once did.
Kubrat Pulev the main focus for Joshua
“Regards to Pulev, I’ve never been so excited before,” said Joshua. “I’m back in London, back on my home turf, fighting against a formidable opponent, someone I have to defeat. If there’s no victory with Pulev, then there’s no road to the undisputed.
“So Pulev is my main focus, and I’m glad I’ve got this challenge. Training has already started, so I’m in a better place than I was last year due to the lesson I had to learn.
“Pulev will reveal some new skills and a definite new style of boxing. [Andy] Ruiz was a lot shorter, and a lot wider. Pulev is a lot taller and slimmer. So it will require a lot more strategy and tactics.
“I recently predicted that I’d carry Pulev into the 11th round,” said Joshua. “I’m confident because I know he’s a tough man. I watched him fight Klitschko, and even though Klitschko knocked him out, he definitely had a will to win. It takes some time to break a man’s soul. So over the 11 rounds, I’m going to breaking his soul down to the point where he can’t come back.
“Pulev is completely different [than Andy Ruiz],” said Joshua. “I was coming off of a loss, and I had different training team. So I had to learn a different style. We had to adapt to a whole team. Now I feel refreshed, this is a new year with new goals. Training has already started, so I’m not going in on a blank canvas. I already started my progression,” said Joshua.
Pulev is a completely different fighter than Andy Ruiz. As such, Joshua will need to be mindful that he doesn’t get into a boxing match with him. The best chance that Pulev has of winning is if Joshua keeps the fight on the outside.