Anthony Joshua is still rough around the edges - as Tyson Fury would surely have shown, says Steve Bunce
Joshua is the world champion by default, his progress interrupted by a fortuitous piece of idiocy by the IBF when they stripped Fury last December
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Your support makes all the difference.Big Anthony Joshua should be back in the gym today throwing handfuls of rice in preparation for the day he fights a man that can move, avoid a punch and counter. If Joshua had been in the ring with Tyson Fury on Saturday night he would still be chasing shadows and moving on the same straight lines inside a darkened ring.
Instead, at the O2 Dominic Breazeale risked injuring Joshua’s fists during his audition for a walking punchbag in front of nearly 20,000 people that cheered their idol’s every flexed muscle. The Met police might soon need to look into the dangers of such large gatherings of the brain-washed and their distorted view of reality. They all need to know that there is not a premium phone line available to reinstate their favourite if he loses.
Breazeale was fantastically brave and Joshua was patient, but this was a world heavyweight championship fight not six rounds at York Hall and I have no idea what people expect when two men are paid a fortune for walking in the footsteps of the greats?
Michael Buffer, the slick MC, invoked the ghosts of champions past with a moving eulogy to Muhammad Ali and then Joshua, in the white robe as predicted, shuffled pleasantly to the ring to fill the Greatest’s boots. Well, that is what it said in the script but Joshua lacks an ounce of guile, not a single feint all night, not a punch thrown that was not first detected high over the Atlantic Ocean and the insulting argument that “nobody can take his punches” is about as persuasive as Farage on immigration. A tidy axiom is not gospel, it is simply a tidy axiom no matter how often it is repeated.
Joshua went into round four for only the second time in his career and that was the end of his creative loop; the total of his variety was exhausted by the time the bell sounded for round four and that should be a concern for everybody in the Joshua business; a refusal to correct the flaws now will lead to a disaster sooner rather than later. He is the most talented heavyweight prospect since Lennox Lewis and needs to now put a bit more intelligence behind his work in the ring. He is, it has to be said, as far from being a stiff bum as he is from being the finished product, and it is on such diverse lines that people discuss the nice guy from Watford.
Breazeale might as well have been swinging from a butcher’s hook in a giant abattoir fridge and that is not meant as an insult. The American was brave and only went down in round seven after taking a pitiless beating during every second of the fight.
Joshua is the world champion by default, his progress interrupted by a fortuitous piece of idiocy by the IBF when they stripped Fury last December. Two men fought for the vacant title, the winner came to London and fell over against Joshua in April and that led to Breazeale’s arrival. Joshua, it has to be said, has done nothing wrong but it is now time to seriously analyse the man that is being packaged as the saviour of a sport.
On Saturday night he would have needed a bag of rice to touch Fury, a sack of rice to get anywhere near Wladimir Klitschko, David Haye would have hit from so many angles he would have been rebranded compass, and the WBC incumbent Deontay Wilder would have hit him all night with long jabs and looping right hands. This is not fanciful posturing, this is based on the little that Breazeale showed and, trust me, you needed a watchful eye to detect the positives.
When Joshua was stopped in June 2011 by a rough Romanian at the European championships he was on his feet but out of ideas and puff. There is nothing wrong with Joshua’s heart or chin, but unless he learns about the boxing business he will run out of ideas against men with talent to match their desire. It is time to start flexing the muscle inside of his head because without brain he is just a likeable strongman with a nice smile and impressive sponsorship deals. He might be a big brother, but boxing is not a reality television show.
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