By Jeff Aronow: Ricky Hatton is deeply concerned about the potential of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, both losing to their next opponents. Like a lot of boxing fans, Hatton wants to see the heavyweight unification between IBF/WBA/WBO champion Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) and WBC champ Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs). But before those two can potentially meet twice in 2021, they need to take care of their preliminary fights.
Fury will be fighting former WBC champ Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) in December, and it’s a tough one for him. Although Fury did well in stopping Wilder in their rematch last February, there are no guarantees he can do that again. Wilder will be motivated highly and better-prepared for the trilogy match than he was last time.
What some boxing fans forget is Wilder only had to deal with Wilder’s power punches for the first two rounds in the second fight. In the third, Fury dropped Wilder with a rabbit punch, and he was never the same for the remainder of the bout. Wilder’s balance and legs went after getting hit repeatedly in the back of the head in round three.
In the third fight, Fury might not be able to hurt Wilder with the same type of punches. If Wilder is ready to clock Fury early, it could be the end of the story. Wilder would be the one that would move forward to face Joshua next year. Deontay might have to pay the winner of the Dillian Whyte vs. Alexander Povetkin contest a step aside fee, but that shouldn’t be a problem.
Wilder should have had a knockout in the first fight against Fury in round 12, but the referee gave a count to him.
Hatton sees Wilder as still dangerous
“We want AJ and Tyson to be at their best when they fight each other,” said Hatton to IFL TV. “With heavyweight boxing, there’s a massive risk. With one punch, you can all go. He [Wilder] can still hit good.
A banana skin, I couldn’t have said it better myself. The way Ruiz did AJ, you can’t tell me Pulev can’t do it. By having the two mandatory’s first, it could put our heavyweight dream fight in jeopardy.
“It’s a massive worry. To have the two best heavyweights in the world [Joshua and Fury], I can’t wait to see that fight. Those two Wilder fights, they scared the s*** out of me,” said Hatton.
It’s not just Fury that has the potential of losing his next fight. Joshua could fail, as well. He’s facing a big guy with decent power and a lot of boxing skills in Kubrat Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs), and that’s a fight that could blow up in AJ’s face.
Andy Ruiz Jr showed last year that you don’t need to be a big puncher to KO Joshua. You just need to after him with a flurry of shots and then wait for him to gas out. Once Joshua loses his energy, his legs go, and he becomes unstable.
Pulev is kind of a plodder, though, and he may not be able to take the fight to AJ in the way that he needs for him to tire him out. He’s not going to wear Joshua out if he fights at a slow pace because that’s how he prefers to his contests.
Pulev has a chance of winning if he follows the blueprint that Ruiz created last year in the first fight with AJ. But for Pulev to win, he’s going to need to force Joshua to fight him because he’s probably going to be imitating Wladimir Klitschko’s ugly, negative style of fighting. We’ll see a lot of movement, jabbing and holding from Joshua to keep Pulev from getting his shots off.