Anthony Joshua has had a well-managed career, carefully guided by promoter Eddie Hearn, steered into capturing two world titles at heavyweight without facing true talents in the division.
Is Joshua a fake, manufactured fighter, a money-making creation by his promoter, matched in a way that made him look like 24K gold, or is he the real thing?
Hearn likes to brag about how Joshua beat Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin, capturing a world title in just his third year as a pro. What he doesn’t say is Wladimir and Povetkin were both 40 and past it.
The ‘Paper-Thin’ resume
Joshua won his first world title against Charles Martin, who many felt was a very, very weak champion. At the time, fans on social media jokingly said that Hearn bought the IBF title for Joshua by luring Martin to the UK with a big money offer.
If Martin had stayed in the U.S. and defended the belt, he would have lost to almost anyone.
In looking at Joshua’s paper-thin resume, all one can say is that Hearn has done an admirable job of manufacturing him into a giant money-maker.
He’s been the 34-year-old Joshua into a star in the UK without ever facing the predatory sharks, and boy, has he made a bundle of money without ever risking his hide.
Joshua NEVER fought Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Jared Anderson, Zhilei Zhang, Martin Bakole, or Filip Hrgovic. These are all fighters that Hearn should have already matched him with and didn’t. Now, why is that? I think it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?
Anthony Joshua’s best wins
Wladimir Klitschko: 40-years-old
Oleksandr Usyk: x 2 lost both
Alexander Povetkin: 40-years-old
Joseph Parker: strange fight
Andy Ruiz: 1-1 with career gatekeeper
Dillian Whyte: domestic level
Kubrat Pulev: 39-years-old
Otto Wallin: gatekeeper
Carlos Takam: 35-year-old fringe contender
Charles Martin
Robert Helenius: fringe contender
Eric Molina
Kevin Johnson
Michael Sprott: domestic level
Matt Skelton: domestic level
The Hearn Factor
In a classic example of Hearn’s maneuver, Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) recently destroyed the hapless Otto Wallin last month on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in Saudi Arabia, and AJ’s fawning fans in his homeland ate it up, treating the victory like he’d just beaten one of the A-list of heavyweights.
For this writer, it was shocking to see how gullible Joshua’s fans were, as they should have been raking him and Hearn over the coals for this dreadful matchmaking, ripping them to pieces.
It’s believed that Hearn will match Joshua against Francis Ngannou next, which some would argue is just another example of what AJ’s career is all about.
