Anthony Joshua to face Konstantin Airich

[Boxing Writer]

Bakhtov is a very good opponent for 9th fight. Good power, big heart. He is slow, but very tough. I think he was robbed against Wawrzyk and was winning against Charr until got injured.

[jujigatame]

Bakhtov is probably better than Sprott at this point. Is the Sprott fight off?

[punchoutsb]

Bakhtov is one of my favorite journeymen. Massively tough guy and a great test for Joshua so early. If Joshua has weak points, Bakhtov will show them.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Bakhtov is one of my favorite journeymen. Massively tough guy and a great test for Joshua so early. If Joshua has weak points, Bakhtov will show them.

He exposed Steffen Kretschmann in the first round with round odds of 100/1, in one of those all-too-rare 'If only I'd had some insider information' moments.

I think it was Dutch Windmill (great Boxrec poster of yore who unfortunately doesn't seem to be around any more) who had talked about Kretschmann's guys having no confidence in him and taking a gamble or something.

ANYWAY

it's a good fight and Bahktov will last some rounds. Josh will stop him by the 6th though.

[Badhusker]

Riddick Blowe is right. Promoters are hot air, there's no way Anthony Joshua will be fighting top 10 fighters in six months, and Sprott and Airich are very ambitious opponents for fight #8 and #9. If Joshua blows them away, he'll probably be fighting someone like Ustinov or Wawrzyk in the winter. Then his resume will be close to on-par with Wilder's after just 15 months of professional fighting.

I would expect that Joshua is moved along a little faster, since he was Olympic Champ and had twice as much amateur experience (6 yrs compared to 3). Airich is not a quality opponent only winning 5 out of his last 12 fights, but has experience, which is just what Joshua needs at this stage in his career.

[Yes We Can]

Riddick Blowe is right. Promoters are hot air, there's no way Anthony Joshua will be fighting top 10 fighters in six months, and Sprott and Airich are very ambitious opponents for fight #8 and #9. If Joshua blows them away, he'll probably be fighting someone like Ustinov or Wawrzyk in the winter. Then his resume will be close to on-par with Wilder's after just 15 months of professional fighting.

I would expect that Joshua is moved along a little faster, since he was Olympic Champ and had twice as much amateur experience (6 yrs compared to 3). Airich is not a quality opponent only winning 5 out of his last 12 fights, but has experience, which is just what Joshua needs at this stage in his career.

Joshua has more raw talent than Deontay in my biased and British opinion, Deontay is just the more raw fighter, willing to throw bombs till the guy drops. Arguably thats why matching him so soft seemed strange as he doesn't appear any more polished now than he did when he first started.

[Badhusker]

Riddick Blowe is right. Promoters are hot air, there's no way Anthony Joshua will be fighting top 10 fighters in six months, and Sprott and Airich are very ambitious opponents for fight #8 and #9. If Joshua blows them away, he'll probably be fighting someone like Ustinov or Wawrzyk in the winter. Then his resume will be close to on-par with Wilder's after just 15 months of professional fighting.

I would expect that Joshua is moved along a little faster, since he was Olympic Champ and had twice as much amateur experience (6 yrs compared to 3). Airich is not a quality opponent only winning 5 out of his last 12 fights, but has experience, which is just what Joshua needs at this stage in his career.

Joshua has more raw talent than Deontay in my biased and British opinion, Deontay is just the more raw fighter, willing to throw bombs till the guy drops. Arguably thats why matching him so soft seemed strange as he doesn't appear any more polished now than he did when he first started.

Well, Maybe they should line up a match between the two then?

[lillywhite14]

Joshua would knock him out, even after 7 pro fights.

[crusader]

Bakhtov is a good opponent for Joshua at this stage and represents another step up. He's like a better version of Airich and at while not the most durable I think he holds a shot better than Sprott and has better recovery powers.

[Badhusker]

Joshua would knock him out, even after 7 pro fights.

You may be right, but doubt if we find out any time soon. Wilder is still raw, but is faster than Joshua I think. Joshua still seems a bit robotic in his movements to me, but he will only get better.

[tobyh5]

Who was the fastest moved (ultimately successful) Heavyweight in history? Mike Tyson surely.

Take a look at his first ten fights and compare, it is not miles apart. 6th fight against Larry Sims who was 3-16-3, then the 7th fight against Lorenzo Canady who was having his 4th fight, then a mild step up to Donnie Long who I recall was half respected at the time as he had a good opening record, but then in his 10th fight he fought Robert Colay (7-7) and Sterling Benjamin 95-6-1) in this 11th fight before stepping up against Eddie Richardson (10-2) who had a good run then lost to Briggs (shown skill and ability to win plus the ability to get splattered)

They were building highlight reel knockouts to get people talking and excited and slicing in decent fighters occasionally to learn from and to make a step up then would bring in a couple relative bums (hate the expression but you know the point) for more highlight reels.

Simple - easy easy step up easy easy step up easy easy step up step up easy step up - constant progression with some gimmes between them.

It does not need to be constant step ups.

[tobyh5]

Who was the fastest moved (ultimately successful) Heavyweight in history? Mike Tyson surely.

Take a look at his first ten fights and compare, it is not miles apart. 6th fight against Larry Sims who was 3-16-3, then the 7th fight against Lorenzo Canady who was having his 4th fight, then a mild step up to Donnie Long who I recall was half respected at the time as he had a good opening record, but then in his 10th fight he fought Robert Colay (7-7) and Sterling Benjamin 95-6-1) in this 11th fight before stepping up against Eddie Richardson (10-2) who had a good run then lost to Briggs (shown skill and ability to win plus the ability to get splattered)

They were building highlight reel knockouts to get people talking and excited and slicing in decent fighters occasionally to learn from and to make a step up then would bring in a couple relative bums (hate the expression but you know the point) for more highlight reels.

Simple - easy easy step up easy easy step up easy easy step up step up easy step up - constant progression with some gimmes between them.

One big negative, Joshua moves and punches in the style of Bruno. Reminds me of him too much.

It does not need to be constant step ups.

[Boxing Prospect]

Who was the fastest moved (ultimately successful) Heavyweight in history? Mike Tyson surely.

Take a look at his first ten fights and compare, it is not miles apart. 6th fight against Larry Sims who was 3-16-3, then the 7th fight against Lorenzo Canady who was having his 4th fight, then a mild step up to Donnie Long who I recall was half respected at the time as he had a good opening record, but then in his 10th fight he fought Robert Colay (7-7) and Sterling Benjamin 95-6-1) in this 11th fight before stepping up against Eddie Richardson (10-2) who had a good run then lost to Briggs (shown skill and ability to win plus the ability to get splattered)

They were building highlight reel knockouts to get people talking and excited and slicing in decent fighters occasionally to learn from and to make a step up then would bring in a couple relative bums (hate the expression but you know the point) for more highlight reels.

Simple - easy easy step up easy easy step up easy easy step up step up easy step up - constant progression with some gimmes between them.

It does not need to be constant step ups.

Jeffries was moved pretty quickly ;)