By Charles Brun: Tony Bellew has a simple solution for how Anthony Joshua can defeat Oleksandr Usyk in June to recapture his lost heavyweight titles.
For Joshua to beat Usyk, he will fight in an aggressive manner that we haven’t seen from him for many years. Bellew is saying the same things that many boxing fans and promoters are about what Joshua needs to for him to beat Usyk.
The problem is, that Joshua is like an old broken-down truck, falling apart as it travels over a rough road. If Joshua fights the way Bellew and other fans suggest, he’s going to blow a gasket and be left on the side of the road against Usyk or anybody for that matter.
When you get to the point where you lose against the likes of Andy Ruiz Jr, that’s a signal that your days of being an elite heavyweight are at an end.
Physically, Joshua looks good, but things aren’t good under the hood with his diminished punch resistance and terrible stamina.
Bellew feels that if the 32-year-old Joshua can regain the “hunger” he had 2500 yesterdays ago, he can beat Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) and rule the division as he had before Andy Ruiz ruined things for him.
To realize Bellew’s vision of rejuvenating Joshua, he only needs to return to his form when he beat Wladimir Klitschko and Dillian Whyte many years ago.
Those fights took place in 2017 and 2015 when Joshua was still in his 20s, and even then, he looked vulnerable in both contests. Those fights should have been knockout losses for AJ, but he got lucky.
Wladimir had Joshua on the canvas in the sixth and there for the taking but chose to foolishly try and box rather than go for the kill in rounds seven through ten.
Whyte staggered Joshua in the second round of their fight, and if not for his stamina being so poor, he would have indeed stopped him in the third.
“If he’s to be successful against Usyk and become a heavyweight champion for the third time, Joshua has to look at himself and be the man he was against Dillian Whyte and Klitschko. A fighter with a point to prove,” said Tony Bellew to DAZN on how Anthony Joshua
“If he’s hungry and prepared to put it all on the line, he can do it.”
It seems like wishful thinking on Bellew’s part to believe that Joshua can turn back the clock on his career, fix chin & stamina issues, and fight in the way that he needs to beat Usyk.
Unfortunately, Joshua is held back by things beyond his ability to change. It doesn’t matter who trains Joshua; he will run into trouble immediately if he fights aggressively that Bellew wants him to.
“When his back has been against the wall at previous times in his career, Joshua has demonstrated that he’s okay in that position. The pressure is on him like never before,” continued Bellew.
When Joshua found success earlier in his career, it was different. He was fighting an old Wladimir, who had lost his trainer Emanuel Steward and wasn’t following the instructions from his new trainer Johnathon Banks.
“If it goes right for him, then there’s not really much else you can say about him. He’ll be a bigger superstar than he already is,” said Bellew.
You have to assume that things WON’T go right for Joshua and that he’ll get even worse by Usyk than he did last September. That’s something that Eddie Hearn and Joshua should be planning right now.
Should Joshua retire after the second defeat against Usyk or stubbornly fight on, dump the new trainer, and try and force a third contest.
If Joshua and Hearn can come up with another excuse for why things didn’t work out, the boxing public will be willing to pay to see a third fight. It’ll be pathetic watching Joshua continue to try and beat a guy that he doesn’t have the talent, chin, or stamina to defeat.
My suggestion is Joshua forget about Usyk and push for the domestic clash against Tyson Fury. Boxing fans will still want to see the two fight it out, regardless of Joshua coming into the contest with a two-fight losing streak.
