Malik Scott is a strange choice of opponent for AJ to defend his world title against

[Maxsplit]

It looks clearly from Malik Scott's twitter that he has already been signed to fight Joshua in his first defence.

It seems a strange choice of opponent given that Chisora knocked Scott out in 6 and Deontay Wilder stopped him in 90 seconds.

As a world title defence it is IMO a very weak challenger, a level below WIlder's heavily criticized voluntaries of Szpilka and Duhaupass.

It also carries the risk of dulling Joshua's momentum if he takes substantially longer than Wilder to get Scott out of there.

I feel there isn't much up side to Scott as an opponent for a newly crowned World Champion. Or am I missing an angle??

[bripez]

Don't be a Camp Eddie hater - stick this one on with a "stacked card" and its got PPV written all over it.

This fight is guaranteed to sell out within seconds of tickets going on sale (Joshua is so popular - he must be because Eddie keeps telling us) - get the telephone number for Stub Hub so you can get yours from there for a reasonably inflated fee ......

[tobyh5]

Every AJ fight from here out is PPV

[BitPlayer]

He's more the sort of person he should spar with, Scott's got some skills, but I think he'll just get bullied about.

[BitPlayer]

Don't be a Camp Eddie hater - stick this one on with a "stacked card" and its got PPV written all over it.

This fight is guaranteed to sell out within seconds of tickets going on sale (Joshua is so popular - he must be because Eddie keeps telling us) - get the telephone number for Stub Hub so you can get yours from there for a reasonably inflated fee ......

I wonder if Stub Hub can beat their previous time.

[Taansend]

If true this is horrible.

Scott is a terrible choice of opponent. If he lasts more than 2 rounds it makes Joshua look bad.

Eric Molina would be a much better choice.

[Coco]

Outside of Klit, Fury, Haye, Ortiz and perhaps Wilder, the only available challengers are of Scott's level.

[davie]

If true this is horrible.

Scott is a terrible choice of opponent. If he lasts more than 2 rounds it makes Joshua look bad.

Eric Molina would be a much better choice.

It doesn't matter how long he lasts.
If he does it quicker than Wilder did it will only serve to highlight how much of a bum opponent they have chosen.

What makes it look bad is if they pick this guy in the first place, who has lost to Chisora and got wiped out by Wilder in 90s

I still think they'll go for Dominic Breazeale

[davie]

Outside of Klit, Fury, Haye, Ortiz and perhaps Wilder, the only available challengers are of Scott's level.

Na.
I'd chose Povetkin, Pulev, Takam, Joshua, Parker and even probably Browne to go through this guy
I reckon Bryant Jennings would beat him fairly well

[Coco]

Outside of Klit, Fury, Haye, Ortiz and perhaps Wilder, the only available challengers are of Scott's level.

Na.
I'd chose Povetkin, Pulev, Takam, Joshua, Parker and even probably Browne to go through this guy
I reckon Bryant Jennings would beat him fairly well

Joshua would struggle fighting Joshua!
I do agree those fighters would be Scott but they aren't a huge amount better. It is true that Scott is the worst of the fighters at that level.

[davie]

Outside of Klit, Fury, Haye, Ortiz and perhaps Wilder, the only available challengers are of Scott's level.

Na.
I'd chose Povetkin, Pulev, Takam, Joshua, Parker and even probably Browne to go through this guy
I reckon Bryant Jennings would beat him fairly well

Joshua would struggle fighting Joshua!
I do agree those fighters would be Scott but they aren't a huge amount better. It is true that Scott is the worst of the fighters at that level.

No, I meant that list would walk through Scott
You said Other than Klit, Fury, Haye Ortiz and Wilder, everybody is at Scotts level. I'm saying I rate those 5 or 6 names higher than him, some significantly so.

You're second statement reads as though you know that's what I meant however, making your initial question a strange one

[handsofstone]

Maybe Eddie only wants opponents who struggle with refs counts,i see a pattern emerging

[Bennyblanco]

Stiverne, jennings, scott, duhauphass, molina are all mentioned on todays IFL video by hearn

[Bard of Boxrec]

A really stupid choice. Just have someone tough who can be beaten up for a few rounds. Duhauppas is fine. Even the layman sports crowd is going to see through this.

Of course the sad thing is the only reason it would be happening is because Malik Scott has found himself in the Boxrec top 10 after wins over Alex Leapai and a shot to bits Tony Thompson...

[Maxsplit]

Scott claims he has already signed a contract and returned it.

I guess he was the original opponent until Martin reached out to Joshua for essentially a belt buy out. So Scott presumably is to be Joshua's next opponent or will be paid off handsomely.

Given Fury is defending his belts in a rematch with Wlad, I can only imagine the stick he will give Joshua and Hearn if AJ defends vs a guy knocked out by Dereck Chisora!

Stiverne would be perfectly acceptable but I think the money required to get a Don King fighter over and one who can seriously bang and is very durable would be seen as the wrong kind of risk/reward for a first defence.

Scott though would be shameless and I can't really see how any positive spin on it and every minute he lasts past 90 seconds will make Joshua's hype dull somewhat. Hopefully they pay Scott step aside money.

[Maxsplit]

Scott claims he has already signed a contract and returned it.

I guess he was the original opponent until Martin reached out to Joshua for essentially a belt buy out. So Scott presumably is to be Joshua's next opponent or will be paid off handsomely.

Given Fury is defending his belts in a rematch with Wlad, I can only imagine the stick he will give Joshua and Hearn if AJ defends his old belt vs a guy knocked out by Dereck Chisora!

Stiverne would be perfectly acceptable but I think the money required to get a Don King fighter over and one who can seriously bang and is very durable would be seen as the wrong kind of risk/reward for a first defence.

Scott though would be shameless and I can't really see how any positive spin on it and every minute he lasts past 90 seconds will make Joshua's hype dull somewhat. Hopefully they pay Scott step aside money.

[Boxerbeetle]

I took Scott's tweet about signing a contract to be tongue-in-cheek, although maybe I misinterpreted?

[johnswan1]

Waste of time and a very hard sell given he's been stopped early a couple of times before, and like Martin has shown he is lacking when it comes to heart.

[PredatorHayds]

Eddie is really going to have to spin the Thompson win to make this credible.

Not a horrific first defence but hard to make this PPV worthy without a stacked competitive undercard.

If this is head to head with the Fury fight I watch Fury-Wlad all day long.

[lefty]

Duhaupas would be the best choice I think purely because he's got decent size and he's durable. He'll be a punchbag but atleast it will give Joshua some rounds. Also his very recent win over a previously undefeated Helenius adds to the appeal in regards to selling the fight.

[Ricky_]

Eddie is really going to have to spin the Thompson win to make this credible.

Not a horrific first defence but hard to make this PPV worthy without a stacked competitive undercard.

If this is head to head with the Fury fight I watch Fury-Wlad all day long.

Thompson clipped him in the 9th round and put Scott on his pants.


Not surprised by this at all, weakest possible defence was always on the cards from Hearn. Scott literally has no chance. a proper 0%'er.

[bripez]

Not surprised by this at all, weakest possible defence was always on the cards from Hearn. Scott literally has no chance. a proper 0%'er.

I agree - by the time that Camp Eddie has put his usual spin on it half the casual supporters will think that Scott is a dangerous wrecking machine and when Joshua beats him in a couple of rounds this will only prove how destructive Joshua is.

[Stuarty]

Awful opponent if this turns out to be true. He needs rounds so Stiverne fits the bill. A quick blast out over Scott isn't exactly great preparation for Takam or Parker at the end of the year. AJ is going to be on box office from now on and these types of opponents aren't PPV worthy. They could get away with someone like Scott if Brook, Selby, McDonnell etc are all in decent fights.

[tigermoth87]

If this is true then this is a pathetic title defence.

Now, I won't say Scott is shit. He's perfectly capable of doing reasonably well against non-punchers. But he's the sort of guy who as soon as he gets tagged hard is going to just stay down and quit.

He wanted nothing to do with Chisora as soon as he got hit and was looking for the first chance to drop against Wilder.

Utter joke of a defence. He should be stripped of the belt.

[asdfjkl]

I wouldn't watch this fight indeed, Americans simply aren't good enough to see as competition. Martin vs Scott would be a lot more interesting fight.