By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn took to social media last night to remind fans that Anthony Joshua has already beaten Zhilei Zhang.
Although Hearn didn’t mention Zhang’s name in his cryptic post on Instagram, it was clear that he was trying to make give Joshua a boost by posting a photo of AJ, saying, “Been there, done it and seen it all.”
Joshua defeated Zhang in the 2012 London Olympics by a questionable decision en route to winning a gold medal. Zhang was lighting Joshua up like a Christmas tree the entire fight, nailing him with repeated left hands to the head, which should have resulted in points, but didn’t for some reason.
Many boxing fans, this writer included, felt that Zhang had been robbed in his fight with Joshua because he appeared to do more than enough to beat him. Of course, that was just one of Joshua’s questionable victories in that Olympics in London, as loads of fans had AJ losing to these fighters:
- Roberto Cammarelle
- Erislandy Savon
- Ivan Dychko
- Zhilei Zhang
If you saw those fights and didn’t have a dog in the hunt, you’d think that Joshua lost all three of his contests in the 2012 Olympics, particularly the fights against Savon and Cammarelle. Those looked like hometown decisions in the eyes of many fans, but the Zhang bout was pretty much the same. Zhang got the better of Joshua, but the judges gave it to the local lad, AJ.
Eddie Hearn on Instagram tonight… pic.twitter.com/8zGPcKg85q
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) April 15, 2023
Hearn doesn’t understand that what Joshua did in the amateurs in winning a controversial gold medal in 2012 in London has no bearing on the pro ranks. They’re different sports entirely. Amateur boxing, especially, was like fencing and nothing like the pro game.
Joshua’s career is on the rocks, unfortunately, and Hearn isn’t going to keep it alive by reminding viewers of his win eleven years ago against Zhang in the 2012 Olympics.
That was a million years ago, and can’t change anything where Joshua is now. It’s nice for Hearn to remind fans of what happened 4000+ yesterday’s ago, but that will not change the reality that the shot-looking Joshua is now confronted with at 33.
Joshua can’t beat the top killers now, probably not even Joe Joyce, and if Hearn throws AJ in with these guys, it’s going to be a feeding frenzy:
- Zhilei Zhang
- Tyson Fury
- Deontay Wilder
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Martin Bakole
- Filip Hrgovic
- Jared Anderson
