Joshua inside 3 rounds?

[handsofstone]

I agree in standings he's not beyond British and Commonwealth level,Fury,Haye and maybe Price are above so unless its Chisora,Browne or Whyte,there's probably no point in wasting his time there after demolishing Johnson so effortlessly but any of those 3 would be a step in the right direction

It's not really wasting time if he's fighting every month or so.

Would the Board allow Joshua to make two defences in one night? Or would that make the British title look bad?

I think it would make British boxing look bad

[mikiesb]

I don't think chisora or price are at their best maybe past it. Whyte and browne are both.hungry and on the up. Aj s.power would see him past Chis and price in under 6,rounds. People knock browne but he will have a tear up with aj and test him. Whyte for obvious reasons makes sense as well.tony Thompson a bit too soon he s been operating at world class level looking at his recent fights

[crusader]

There are still questions to be answered about AJ's stamina, chin etc etc, however George Best was poo in the net, but outside wow! No point in drabbing on about his chin, stamina as he may never need either if he keeps hitting and knocking over and no one is prepared to hit him back.

If people are already going to make lofty proclamations about how good he is they should also consider that he hasn't fought any good offensive fighters (Bakhtov may be the best in that respect), and that he may not react well if he's hit hard and put under pressure. If it were simply about how fighters could give it David Price would probably still be heavily lauded as he was a few years ago, but of course we saw what happened when he fought a top opponent (which Johnson isn't) who came to win (which Johnson didn't); he got dropped hard in the first fight then he gassed and was stopped in the rematch. So far AJ's career has been like heavy bag practice, and I don't think he's fought at a high enough level to assume that it will uniformly continue that way even as he fights better opposition.

There is no doubt that AJ's impressed, but the idea that we should ignore questions about his chin and stamina is laughable to me, and if he ends up having problems because he can't take good shot or tires quickly he would hardly be the first fighter held back by shortcomings in those attributes. Conversely, if it turns out that he is durable and that despite the growing bulk has fine stamina, it's hard for me to see how he doesn't become one of the division's elite fighters.

[Grilling Machine]

Yeah, he's the most all-or-nothing prospect in recent history. If his suspected weaknesses aren't serious, he'll breeze through to the major belts. Else he'll probably always be a nearly man.

[Datsue]

Of course Joshua is sinister.

Have you never seen the way he laughs ominously whilst twirling the corners of his waxed mustache, and stroking the cat on his lap?

I believe a mate of mine bumped into him next to a railroad line, he was carrying a virginal heiress over one shoulder & a length of rope over the other, warning signs I tell you, warning signs, he'll end his days doing a gallows dance over a Tyburn mare etc etc etc.

[MightyWarrior]

A lot of people thought David Price was chinny even before he got knocked out, alarm bells were ringing loudly as an amateur & pro.
But no signs of Joshua being fragile at all, so let's assume he's not . In which case, the real questions are has he got the stamina and heart - The last great British Hope who he reminds a lot of people of, with the same Adonis like build, hefty punch & early eye poppin knockouts - Frank Bruno, had the heart but not the stamina. He still ended up in a world champ of course

[black panther]

A lot of people thought David Price was chinny even before he got knocked out, alarm bells were ringing loudly as an amateur & pro.
But no signs of Joshua being fragile at all, so let's assume he's not . In which case, the real questions are has he got the stamina and heart - The last great British Hope who he reminds a lot of people of, with the same Adonis like build, hefty punch & early eye poppin knockouts - Frank Bruno, had the heart but not the stamina. He still ended up in a world champ of course

Yeah I do worry about his stamina as he keeps packing on more muscle. I was at his gold medal winning effort at the Excel; he was a big lump then and turned pro at 230lbs.

He's now 18lbs heavier and obviously has been hitting the weights hard. He just badly needs rounds but there doesn't look like there are many that could give him them. Might be Chisora or Whyte next. I'd be more than happy with that!

[MightyWarrior]

A lot of people thought David Price was chinny even before he got knocked out, alarm bells were ringing loudly as an amateur & pro.
But no signs of Joshua being fragile at all, so let's assume he's not . In which case, the real questions are has he got the stamina and heart - The last great British Hope who he reminds a lot of people of, with the same Adonis like build, hefty punch & early eye poppin knockouts - Frank Bruno, had the heart but not the stamina. He still ended up in a world champ of course

Yeah I do worry about his stamina as he keeps packing on more muscle. I was at his gold medal winning effort at the Excel; he was a big lump then and turned pro at 230lbs.

He's now 18lbs heavier and obviously has been hitting the weights hard. He just badly needs rounds but there doesn't look like there are many that could give him them. Might be Chisora or Whyte next. I'd be more than happy with that!

That's quite a bit of weight gain...always wonder if the weights are a good idea for certain boxers.
Don't know a lot about Whyte, though a mate just told me we saw him at a small show at the elephant and Castle a few years back - but Chisora is surely a dangerous fight for a novice just yet

[palooka]

There's a good poster on B&I called Toby who'd be able to cast light on the ability of the human body to add 18lbs of muscle in such a short time span.

[Tuan_Jim]

Tony Thompson in his prime was nothing more than a good journeyman. He has nothing at all to hold Joshua off, and he's old. Ironically Price would be more dangerous, at least momentarily, because of his horrific punch power.

Joshua makes pancakes of all of them. Bring on Queen Klitschko and let's end the long heavyweight nightmare.

[crusader]

A lot of people thought David Price was chinny even before he got knocked out, alarm bells were ringing loudly as an amateur & pro.
But no signs of Joshua being fragile at all, so let's assume he's not . In which case, the real questions are has he got the stamina and heart - The last great British Hope who he reminds a lot of people of, with the same Adonis like build, hefty punch & early eye poppin knockouts - Frank Bruno, had the heart but not the stamina. He still ended up in a world champ of course

You're right--people shouldn't assume that he's chinny, but at the same time I don't think it should be glossed over that he hasn't been hit back by anything meanginful and arguably hasn't faced a more dangerous fighter offensively than Denis Bakhtov. It's true that he didn't evince Price's marked fragility as an amateur, but he was dropped, stopped, and given counts on seperate occasions--all in fights in which his opponents attacked rather than passively laying back --so he didn't show exemplary durability either. The hulking frame and increasing weight also raises questions about his stamina for me , which obviously won't be answered when he's winning as he is; to bring up Price again, I don't recall him showing major stamina problems as an amateur or when he was breezing through most of his pro bouts, but it contributed to his second loss.

Now he may end up being a durable fighter who doesn't tire easily, in which case he'll be a nightmare to beat, but he's been all offense as virtually nothing has come back at him so far, and I don't think he's beaten the type of opposition that can allow us to assume without question that he'll continue mullering people without issues when he starts facing top fighters.

[Tuan_Jim]

But who are these mysterious 'top fighters'? We no longer have a heavyweight top 10, we have a top 2 - Queen Klit and Povetkin.

Who's a great challenge outside of that? Inept chinny Wilder? Old obese disease bag Chagaev? Old obese inept Stiverne? Fat defenceless chinless Perez? Durable but not much else Jennings? Diabolical Pulev? These men box with the competence of Cedric Kushner's 4-round Heavyweight Explosion fighters. It's a stinking wasteland out there, Joshua should go club The Lord of the Flies and bring action back to our eyeballs.

[crusader]

All those fighters are far more dangerous than anyone he's mowed over, as are people like Erkan Teper and Mariusz Wach. In the BOTP section in discussions about Klitschko I've noted you bring up his relatively weak resume as evidence that he was no better than fighters from previous eras, so I'm surprised to see you breeze over the fact that Joshua hasn't fought a more dangerous puncher than Denis Bakhtov and has yet to fight someone who wasn't quite passive. Moreover, you label Perez chinny but he wasn't hurt until he fought a top opponent, something Joshua has yet to do, and I believe that Joshua and Wilder have been stopped the same number of times with the latter being dropped only once more.

One flaw I've noticed dating from AJ's amateur days is a tendency to stiffen and leave his chin out when pressured, which also contributed to some of the cases of him being hurt, and flaws like this aren't going to be exploited by passive fighters who don't have the firepower to do much damage anyway. He's certainly an offensive force and already in my top 16, but I think it's absurd that some people think skepticism of his ability on the receiving end is misplaced.

[Tuan_Jim]

Teper is 'dangerous' yet hasn't beaten anyone better than Joshua - so you're contradicting yourself. Teper is a jiggling beer barrel. Wach needed 6 rds to stop Tye Fields, whereas AJ would need 1. Wach is a colossal punchbag pumped full of steroids.

None of the men you are saying are dangerous have ever looked it. None of them bar Jennings can even be bothered to train. Enjoy AJ flipping some fleshy pancakes, the heavies have been action starved since June 2003.

[crusader]

Teper is 'dangerous' yet hasn't beaten anyone better than Joshua - so you're contradicting yourself. Teper is a jiggling beer barrel. Wach needed 6 rds to stop Tye Fields, whereas AJ would need 1. Wach is a colossal punchbag pumped full of steroids.

None of the men you are saying are dangerous have ever looked it. None of them bar Jennings can even be bothered to train. Enjoy AJ flipping some fleshy pancakes, the heavies have been action starved since June 2003.

It seems like you don't know what a contradiction is, because there is no logical reason why Teper not having beaten someone of Joshua's caliber precludes him from being a dangerous opponent. I was also emphasising how certain people compare to Joshua's previous opponents, and Teper's shown strength, a solid chin, and despite the soft build good stamina, which coupled with his aggressive style (note my point about Joshua coping with pressure) indicate to me that he's more of a threat than anyone Joshua has faced professionally.

Wach has shown an excellent chin and has some pop in his straight right, and I suspect that he'd take Joshua's punches much better than the latter's previous opposition has. If Joshua can't dispose of him early his stamina could become an issue, in which case Wach may not need to punch especially hard to be a threat.

Sure, AJ is far more chiseled than most of today's HWs, but being ripped didn't stop him from losing to and being hurt/dropped/stopped by these three (maybe love-handles are his bane):

[Tuan_Jim]

Nothing demonstrates a phenomenal ignorance of boxing history than clinging onto amateur results.

Remember when Tillman beat Tyson - twice? Or when Biggs beat Lewis? Remember when Gonzalez demolished Bowe, and Bobick squashed Holmes? Ah when Ellis beat Clay. . . .

You even contrive to misunderstand my use of the word contradiction. You called Teper dangerous, yet his best win is Sprott who Joshua rolled over with ease. Outside that Teper has nothing, certainly not a Kevin Johnson, and is old and has the physique of a pot bellied pig. Therein lies your contradiction. I do understand the word, it's not a complex one.

[crusader]

Did I suggest that amateur results are perfect predictors of professional outcomes? I didn't, and I'm not trying to suggest that Joshua would lose as a professional to the people who beat him in the amateurs. I do think amateur fights regularly show shortcomings that fighters carry into the professionals though (such as Price's fragility), and for those instances you mention of amateur results being reversed in the pros there are many of them staying them same, with the majority of the opponents top pros defeated as amateurs not even turning pro or going unrecognized. My main point in mentioning those fights and posting those pictures is to show that being far more chiseled than one's opponents doesn't mean that one will beat such opposition, and for all your focus on bodies Joshua's biggest problems have been with relatively chubby opponents, meaning fights are obviously about more than whether someone is carrying too much weight or not.

Nothing I've posted is inconsistent with maintaining that Erkan Teper is a dangerous opponent, and of course I posted that Teper is 'more dangerous' than AJ's previous opponents, meaning my point was about degrees. As for Teper's quality, he actually comes to win fights and doesn't simply lay on the ropes looking to survive like Johnson usually does. He also is also significantly stronger in my view, and together these make him more of a threat to Joshua than Johnson, who didn't try to win for a second. I also think you're ignorant of Teper's opposition, as I would consider his wide win over Duhaupas--who one fight later beat KJ conqueor Manuel Charr--much better than his destruction of Sprott. You're starting again with physiques, but Teper has shown fairly good stamina and as I noted, AJ's biggest struggles have been with fatties.

I find the opposition to AJ skepticism rather odd, especially when it's coming from someone who will cling to quality of opposition when putting down other fighters.

[Loynesy]

I think Crusader is perfectly fair with his constructive observations, not criticisms of AJ.

As an offensive fighter, he's simply brilliant at this stage of his career. He's clearly dedicated, and no-one that tracks HW development can criticise him thus far.

Most of the prospects who are chinny, already have that noted from sparring or general boxing rumours.

There are no such stories about AJ, that's not to say he's a future great, but just re-enforces he's doing everything right as a virtual novice. I fully expect him to be in with a banger in his next 2 fights. I strongly suspect he will deal with it well and revert to a stiff jab (Vlad k anyone?), but it's a valid observation.

[Coco]

Joshua is the victim of his own success here, he couldn't have done more at this stage of his career. I thought Johnson would have been capable of asking some questions about chin and definately stamina but again was blasted out.
Essentially we won't find out until an opponent is found who can ask these questions. However already it seems he will have to move into world class before we find out.

[crusader]

Why should asking questions of a heavily lauded prospect be associated with victimization?

Joshua did very well against KJ (though not sure why you'd think he is one to test a chin), but he was facing someone who has largely been in journeyman mode and is known for not trying to win. The manner of his victory showed that he is an offensive force, one capable of notable success regardless of factors such as durability and stamina, and I don't see anyone questioning that.

[Boxing Prospect]

So many questions are still there that the hype is just...bizarre. We've seen the same thing in every fight and we've still got the same questions we had when he debuted, and in fact we've now got more questions.

Yes, offensively he looks great against fighters who are their to pick up a pay cheque.

We've however had him describe Gavern as tricky or slippery, we've seen him repeatedly get away with fouls in what is quickly becoming a habit, and we've yet to see him in with any type of a test. Hopefully a European level fight is next (someone like Duahapas, Teper, Ustinov, Charr) , given the scheduled turn around however I'm expecting something less exciting.

[deadpan]

Of course Joshua is sinister.

Have you never seen the way he laughs ominously whilst twirling the corners of his waxed mustache, and stroking the cat on his lap?

I believe a mate of mine bumped into him next to a railroad line, he was carrying a virginal heiress over one shoulder & a length of rope over the other, warning signs I tell you, warning signs, he'll end his days doing a gallows dance over a Tyburn mare etc etc etc.

You chaps have brightened up an otherwise granite grey evening.

I thank you both wholeheartedly.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Joshua will bowl through everyone. The division is so dire that his talent alone should make that assumption pretty easy to make. For me, there is enough evidence from the am days that he is solid enough to get through trouble, not that it will be dished out to him by these clowns. Most people are reluctant to say more until he has a 'test'. There are no tests. Only torpor and tedium out there. the scene is there for the taking. Teper is a bum. Josh clubs him and everyone else.

[Shirow]

Johnson was supposed to at least put up resistance so if that line of thinking isn't working out too well maybe he should go in with someone who is harder to actually hit. Szpilka is very tricky & slippery but not that much of a threat otherwise and might extend Joshua.
He is fighting often so i wouldn't mind each opponent being chosen for one specific attribute.

To test his stamina i think you'd have to look at a giant oaf like Ustinov who can grapple and lean and try to wear out AJ (to be frank i don't even remember if Ustinov fights like that) or Wach who Klit tried to bomb out Pulev style but couldn't. Pulev would be overreaching yet. Mix in a Tony Thompson here and a Whyte there and then Browne followed by a few commonwealth defenses mixed in and i think he could be kept busy & learning before climbing too high without proving enough.

Amir Mansour and Arreola would very likely get smashed but it would be fun as you know they would come to fight.

[Tuan_Jim]

Ustinov is stand off sort. He didn't want to get close to David Tua so doubt he would try molest Joshua.

Tony Thompson and Marius Wach seem to me ideal workouts that are needed immediately. Chris Arreola is a name, of sorts, but is a face-first, free-swinging blob who Joshua would decap pretty quickly. I expect Arreola will get the call.