Anthony Joshua

[DMA1987]

He put certain shots together more quickly than I've seen and he looked more relaxed than usual, but I still wouldn't consider him generally fast-handed and if he were perhaps you could just say look at the punches he throws from start to finish rather than selectively listing 4 instances of speed in 3 rounds. Most of his shots, especially the singles and two punch combinations, aren't what I'd consider fast.

I agree.

He also reacts awkwardly when his opponents surmount a (rare) bout of offense. Those who think he'd have ANY chance at Klitschko are delusional. Pulev and Povetkin would also beat him right now.

As they should. He is a way off them ATM, I don't think he'd argue.

[dwise26]

When I watch him I see a amateur fighter trying to be professional.

[Bard of Boxrec]

He put certain shots together more quickly than I've seen and he looked more relaxed than usual, but I still wouldn't consider him generally fast-handed and if he were perhaps you could just say look at the punches he throws from start to finish rather than selectively listing 4 instances of speed in 3 rounds. Most of his shots, especially the singles and two punch combinations, aren't what I'd consider fast.

Lol, how many examples do you need? He's not going to be throwing 100 punches a round. If you're capable of throwing quick shots, you have quick hands. There's no 'generally' about it. You're fast handed or you ain't. Joshua used a few range finders like any heavyweight, but when he lets em go he is fast. Using your logic for Wlad, the champ must have pretty slow hands since he paws with his jab so much when faced with a threat.

[crusader]

Nearly every fighter produces bursts in which their punches are faster or more powerful than they tend to be, and the instances you mention seem like those to me. I can find similar examples of many heavyweights throwing punches that could be considered fast because they are faster than those generally thrown at the weight, but often the fighters only punch as such during spots in which they look as if they're trying to throw as quickly as possible or close to it.

The sizable majority of what Joshua throws, what I'd consider his baseline or general handspeed, doesn't qualify him as fast-handed in my view. To illustrate, if the average punch a HW throws during a bout is 40 miles per hour, I wouldn't describe someone as fast-handed just because they occasionally throw punches faster than that. It also seems to me like he puts significantly more effort into most of his punches than Wlad does when he 'paws', so I'm not persuaded by that comparison.

I don't believe that his hands are slow, but their speed doesn't stand out to me like it does for you.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Nearly every fighter produces bursts in which their punches are faster or more powerful than they tend to be, and the instances you mention seem like those to me. I can find similar examples of many heavyweights throwing punches that could be considered fast because they are faster than those generally thrown at the weight, but often the fighters only punch as such during spots in which they look as if they're trying to throw as quickly as possible or close to it.

The sizable majority of what Joshua throws, what I'd consider his baseline or general handspeed, doesn't qualify him as fast-handed in my view. To illustrate, if the average punch a HW throws during a bout is 40 miles per hour, I wouldn't describe someone as fast-handed just because they occasionally throw punches faster than that. It also seems to me like he puts significantly more effort into most of his punches than Wlad does when he 'paws', so I'm not persuaded by that comparison.

I don't believe that his hands are slow, but their speed doesn't stand out to me like it does for you.

So your contention is that guys without notable handspeed can show flashes of speed in fights. Sometimes, but not always true. Froch is a pretty slow guy and noone tends to notice 'moments of speed' from him. Marius Wach, closet speedster? Not so much, he's punching through treacle at all points in his fights.

anyway, surely it works the other way too. Most people consider Wlad to have good speed for a big guy right? I would assume you think he is faster than Joshua, since you describe Joshua's speed as average, correct? Well watch round 4 of his fight with Leapai, a limited opponent where Wlad should have been able to demonstrate his speed all night long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD477t3YIpg
He lands some quick combos on the hopelessly outmatched Leapai, but look at all the times where he fires off slow-ass punches. 27.12-27.16. 28.06, hell I'm not even going to bother, there are tons of examples.

My point is despite how much I hate Wlad I still consider him a fast-handed guy for his size and the lazy slow punches/range finding shots he throws are pretty much comparable to the slower part of Joshua's output.

[dominik]

Nearly every fighter produces bursts in which their punches are faster or more powerful than they tend to be, and the instances you mention seem like those to me. I can find similar examples of many heavyweights throwing punches that could be considered fast because they are faster than those generally thrown at the weight, but often the fighters only punch as such during spots in which they look as if they're trying to throw as quickly as possible or close to it.

The sizable majority of what Joshua throws, what I'd consider his baseline or general handspeed, doesn't qualify him as fast-handed in my view. To illustrate, if the average punch a HW throws during a bout is 40 miles per hour, I wouldn't describe someone as fast-handed just because they occasionally throw punches faster than that. It also seems to me like he puts significantly more effort into most of his punches than Wlad does when he 'paws', so I'm not persuaded by that comparison.

I don't believe that his hands are slow, but their speed doesn't stand out to me like it does for you.

Joshuas Hands are not super fast but they are not bad for his size and he can throw it in combinations. of course he will never be as fast as haye (and probably not like Wladimir either) but for a 6"6 250 Pounds guy his handspeed is just fine.

I agree that he "muscles" a lot of punches, he Needs to become more relaxed as he starts fighting longer rounds at a higher pace. just throw in some relaxed punches and don't throw anything as hard as you can.

[Bard of Boxrec]

If Anthony Joshua had fallen at the very first Olympic hurdle, which he should have, he’d be another anonymous fighter that very few people could care less about.

Lol waaat

Maybe at first, without the marketing angle of Olympic champ, but there are tons of non-medalling Olympians who made it huge in the pro ranks.

People are going to take notice of a pro heavyweight prospect like Joshua regardless of his Olympic pedigree.

[crusader]

Fighters without notable speed can show flashes of speed if by that you simply mean punches that are faster than those typically thrown in the division. If a HW averages 40 mph a punch and that matches the division's average, they will likely be able to throw faster than average punches--those which could by extension by considered fast or quick--as few fighters invariably punch as fast as they can. To me those examples of Joshua you give are of a fighter with average hand speed exploding, and hence throwing punches that are faster than most which you see HWs throw. I also never claimed that everyone shows these 'flashes of speed', so the Wach (perhaps the slowest of the HW top 50 and therefore an extreme case) and Froch examples are unnecessary.

Due to differences in exertion among other factors, it's not hard to find bits of fighters looking faster or slower than they usually do, and it's probably not difficult to find examples of a relatively slow fighter momentarily showing more speed than a faster fighter. As far as Wlad goes, he can paw and get lazy with shots at times, but I think he generally shows significantly faster hands than Joshua and especially when they show what I believe to be comparable levels of exertion.

Joshuas Hands are not super fast but they are not bad for his size and he can throw it in combinations. of course he will never be as fast as haye (and probably not like Wladimir either) but for a 6"6 250 Pounds guy his handspeed is just fine.

I agree that he "muscles" a lot of punches, he Needs to become more relaxed as he starts fighting longer rounds at a higher pace. just throw in some relaxed punches and don't throw anything as hard as you can.

I agree that his hand speed is fine. I'm just not seeing how he's fast-handed, as Riddick Blowe asserts.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Well, I guess we'll see when he comes up against someone highly rated who is considered fast, although to be honest the division is so dire I'm struggling to think of many off the top of my head.

[Tony1244]

When I watch him I see a amateur fighter trying to be professional.

When I see him I see the best HW prospect in existence right now.

[lillywhite14]

Of course he wouldn't have garnered as much attention as the olympic gold brought him but he was still a big prospect, even before the Olympics where he didnt actually box all that well. He performed better in the worlds the year before.

I also think he lost to Savon that night but I also think e suffered big time from the expectations put on him that night. I've seen Joshua perform much better in the ams and I've always maintained that had he performed as he did the in the worlds then he would have stopped Savon, who is quite vulnerable. No denying that Savon deserved the win that night in London though.

The Cammarelle fight was a pick em, but he had already beaten Roberto in the worlds before his marvellous final, which he lost due to a bit of a hometown decision. So perhaps it could be argued that Joshua, whilst benefitting from a hometown decision in 2012, actually could have been world championship gold medallist but for a hometown decision.

Either way he was always going to be a red hot prospect at heavyweight.

[Bard of Boxrec]

he almost certainly would not have received any plaudits at this point in time for beating eight cab drivers[/u][/b] during professional career that spans a total of 31 minutes and 32 seconds of one-sided action.

Yes he would.

By the way, who thought this guy was Rover? I think all the bold and underlining and colouring and emotion gives it away that it's not him. Although it could be a ploy!

[Bard of Boxrec]

Let's just say Rover was an interesting chap!

Actually, he wasn't.

[dominik]

Was just watching the Airich fight and I was reminded of the speed discussion. Crusader, watch the one-two Joshua puts together at 3:48. Can you honestly tell me he doesn't have fast hands?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db6gcrxYM8M

4.28 the left hook he whips in, the lead right at 4.33, 5.54, 9.43 when he flurries.

Joshua would beat Chagaev tomorrow. I think he would do Fury too if he fought him next.

he did throw some quick combinations would I would not call his pure handspeed fast. In fact I think that airich has faster hands than joshua, at least in the first round before he was dominated too much.

I'm a big AJ fan and I do think he will win a title at some point but I would not categorize him as having fast hands. his handspeed is not terrible but I would call it about average.

if you want to see a really fast handed fighter watch his fight with savon. savon is not a very polished boxer yet but his hands are super fast.

[reggaereggae]

I see a lot of similarities in style and technique with Frank Bruno. Watch Joshua on youtube and then watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60vHxJ0QMfU

I have concerns they are moving him in the same direction and he is not developing the skills he will need when the going gets tougher.

Yup, there are some Bruno similarities. But difference is Joshua has only had 8 fights, against fighters that are better than the 8 Bruno faced, if only mildly. Bruno in that fight bashed Coetzee, who apparently barely trained for the fight and came over for a holiday and it was I believe the fight before Bruno fought Wtherspoon.

I believe Joshua now would've beaten that Coetzee in a similar fashion. Joshua seems less, stiff, more natural, though I agree there are similarities.

[dwise26]

When I watch him I see a amateur fighter trying to be professional.

When I see him I see the best HW prospect in existence right now.

I'm not saying he isn't good. I just see him transitioning from amateur to pro style. Also he's not 6'6 he looks more 6'3 in those pictures with Klitschko.

[Tony1244]

When I watch him I see a amateur fighter trying to be professional.

When I see him I see the best HW prospect in existence right now.

I'm not saying he isn't good. I just see him transitioning from amateur to pro style. Also he's not 6'6 he looks more 6'3 in those pictures with Klitschko.

Joshua and Joe Parker are the best young HW prospects IMO.