Rob3_142 wrote:I cannot believe that anyone would give Hughie any chance of beating Joshua. He simply doesn't possess the power to knock Joshua out, and just do not see him eluding Joshua long enough to win on points (and even if he did - I still see Joshua outworking him).
I love how people think that fighters can just dodge Joshua for 12 rounds. Some weird suggestion that Joshua can't move. Joshua has excellent footwork and a decent work rate. He has extremely good punch accuracy and excellent overhand counters. If Hughie commits, he's going to be playing a dangerous game. Also as soon as Hughie gets rocked by a Joshua right, he'll go into survival mode. The only way I see Joshua being beaten is fighting fire with fire, and there is not many that can match Joshua for power (perhaps Wilder, Haye, Ortiz).
As far as any potential fight with Hughie, I find HIGHLY unlikely at this point. One because of this doping investigation hanging over his head (which is one of the reasons it's ludicrous that Tyson would be fighting Wlad any time soon), and secondly there seems to be a lot of references over his general health and fitness. Seems Hughie has a lot of work to do before he fights anyone - be it medically or legally.
Joshua to fight one of Stiverne, Parker or Pulev next. I think it'll be Stiverne next (Parker due to fight Dimitrenko in October). Although all 3 fighters will be a stark improvement on ANY body that Joshua has been in the ring with next.
So no one can avoid him for 12, but someone the level of Breazeale can avoid for 7?
Stivern wouldn't be an improvement, another Kevin Johson fight, a quick knockout against a no longer tough opponent.
Ian1973 wrote:I don't think Hughie is mentally ready for this level yet. Yes, he has the technical ability but at the moment he's too fragile. Give him a couple of years and let him mature into himself. There is no rush, he's a kid.
Why do you suggest he is not mentally ready? How do you make him to fragile?
I'd suggest after 20+ pro fights albeit at domestic level that he is mentally sound and stable to be stepping up and fighting for titles. Its clear they have no interest in the British domestic scene and he is training daily with the heavyweight champ so who better to test himself against.
But for what reason, if indeed that is the case? His cousin went via the domestic route and the domestic route is the natural progression towards world honours. Hughie should be fighting the likes of Sexton, Chisora, Price and Whyte before he is even given a sniff at AJ.
This seems like a cash-out fight from the Fury's and it has to be said that the impending November hearing may have something to do with matters, namely Hughie wanting to earn a nest-egg should he be required to serve a drug ban.
I genuinely just dont see how Hughie is even being considered for such a fight at this stage. He is no defensive genius and whilst he is rangy and has a good jab, Larry Holmes he is not. Good luck to the kid though.
BitPlayer wrote:So no one can avoid him for 12, but someone the level of Breazeale can avoid for 7?
Stivern wouldn't be an improvement, another Kevin Johson fight, a quick knockout against a no longer tough opponent.
Wow, seriously? You're genuinely suggesting that Breazeale 'avoided' Joshua for 7 rounds. I think the state of his face after the fight would suggest otherwise. He tagged him 2-3 times per round and ground him down, until he eventually dropped. He almost had him out of the there in the second, but to his credit he managed to recover, as he has shown in the past he can do.
Also, to suggest Stiverne is another Kevin Johnson is preposterous. One bad fight does not make Stiverne a bad fighter. Let's not forget two fights ago Stiverne was the only fighter to take Wilder the distance. Providing Stiverne gets himself in decent shape and gets in a good camp, he will provide a stern test for Joshua, and hopefully take him some rounds.
BitPlayer wrote:So no one can avoid him for 12, but someone the level of Breazeale can avoid for 7?
Stivern wouldn't be an improvement, another Kevin Johson fight, a quick knockout against a no longer tough opponent.
Wow, seriously? You're genuinely suggesting that Breazeale 'avoided' Joshua for 7 rounds. I think the state of his face after the fight would suggest otherwise. He tagged him 2-3 times per round and ground him down, until he eventually dropped. He almost had him out of the there in the second, but to his credit he managed to recover, as he has shown in the past he can do.
Also, to suggest Stiverne is another Kevin Johnson is preposterous. One bad fight does not make Stiverne a bad fighter. Let's not forget two fights ago Stiverne was the only fighter to take Wilder the distance. Providing Stiverne gets himself in decent shape and gets in a good camp, he will provide a stern test for Joshua, and hopefully take him some rounds.
Fair point, he was still getting hit, but he was making him regularly miss, and often blocking him, but he showed it's possible, especially for better fighter since he was pretty slow and nothing special.
BitPlayer wrote:So no one can avoid him for 12, but someone the level of Breazeale can avoid for 7?
Stivern wouldn't be an improvement, another Kevin Johson fight, a quick knockout against a no longer tough opponent.
Wow, seriously? You're genuinely suggesting that Breazeale 'avoided' Joshua for 7 rounds. I think the state of his face after the fight would suggest otherwise. He tagged him 2-3 times per round and ground him down, until he eventually dropped. He almost had him out of the there in the second, but to his credit he managed to recover, as he has shown in the past he can do.
Also, to suggest Stiverne is another Kevin Johnson is preposterous. One bad fight does not make Stiverne a bad fighter. Let's not forget two fights ago Stiverne was the only fighter to take Wilder the distance. Providing Stiverne gets himself in decent shape and gets in a good camp, he will provide a stern test for Joshua, and hopefully take him some rounds.
Fair point, he was still getting hit, but he was making him regularly miss, and often blocking him, but he showed it's possible, especially for better fighter since he was pretty slow and nothing special.
Yeah Joshua was made to miss a few, no doubt, but every boxer in the world will miss punches. It'd honestly be nice to see what his thrown/landed ratio was (I've looked online but cannot find any stats for the fight). I think it'd also be interesting how many punches Breazeale threw and landed - there was a lot of wild swinging and missing.
I'd wager that Joshua landed more than 50% of his punches.
Has anyone been impressed with Stiverne apart from his fights with limited Arreola? 40 year old Ray Austin gave him a boxing lesson for nearly 10 rounds, and despite going the distance with Wilder he offered him fewer issues than people like Molina and Spzilka did. On top of that, he's fallen short twice against journeymen, and given that he just got officially dropped for the first time in his career and is about to turn 38, I think he's already on the way down.
I actually think Breazeale would have a good chance of beating him now, although with Stiverne being a former champion and the only guy to extend Wilder he has more upside as an AJ opponent.
crusader wrote:Has anyone been impressed with Stiverne apart from his fights with limited Arreola? 40 year old Ray Austin gave him a boxing lesson for nearly 10 rounds, and despite going the distance he gave Wilder less of a fight that people like Molina and Spzilka did. On top of that, he's fallen short twice against journeymen, and given that he just got officially dropped for the first time in his career and is about to turn 38, I think he's already on the way down.
I actually think Breazeale would have a good chance of beating him now, although with Stiverne being a former champion and the only guy to extend Wilder he has more upside as an AJ opponent.
He's definitely on the back end of his career. The only thing I can think of is that he's durable, and might be able to take Joshua the distance. I'm not overly optimistic, but still think he's a step up from Martin and Breazeale. Would I prefer he fought Pulev? Yeah probably. I think Pulev potentially takes Joshua the distance, and then he fights Parker in the new year. If he did end up fighting Stivern next, I'd be content. Just to see what happened. Can Joshua get him out of there in 3 rounds?
crusader wrote:Has anyone been impressed with Stiverne apart from his fights with limited Arreola? 40 year old Ray Austin gave him a boxing lesson for nearly 10 rounds, and despite going the distance he gave Wilder less of a fight that people like Molina and Spzilka did. On top of that, he's fallen short twice against journeymen, and given that he just got officially dropped for the first time in his career and is about to turn 38, I think he's already on the way down.
I actually think Breazeale would have a good chance of beating him now, although with Stiverne being a former champion and the only guy to extend Wilder he has more upside as an AJ opponent.
He's definitely on the back end of his career. The only thing I can think of is that he's durable, and might be able to take Joshua the distance. I'm not overly optimistic, but still think he's a step up from Martin and Breazeale. Would I prefer he fought Pulev? Yeah probably. I think Pulev potentially takes Joshua the distance, and then he fights Parker in the new year. If he did end up fighting Stivern next, I'd be content. Just to see what happened. Can Joshua get him out of there in 3 rounds?
The Stivern fight makes massive sense for AJ IMO, Stivern isn't really a threat but he did take Deontay the full 12, that's a massive selling point for the fight, casuals will be able to get there head around that, Former World Champ ect ect. If AJ bangs him out in half that time and comparison's will be made with AJ and Wilder, the hype machine can move up another gear.
I wouldn't mind seeing the Stivern fight to be fair. Think AJ stops Stivern in the mid rounds
How will Matchroom sell Hughie Fury as a credible fight for Joshua after saying he needs to step? I'm not on any Joshua hype train but he'd take Fury out in 5 rounds max.
samwbr wrote:How will Matchroom sell Hughie Fury as a credible fight for Joshua after saying he needs to step? I'm not on any Joshua hype train but he'd take Fury out in 5 rounds max.
Matchroom doesn't sell credible fights, it just sells fights. There is a lot of argument against all his PPV fights, but they still found an angle. In fact the Hughie fight would probably be the easiest to sell out of the three. Purely because of the Fury factor.
samwbr wrote:How will Matchroom sell Hughie Fury as a credible fight for Joshua after saying he needs to step? I'm not on any Joshua hype train but he'd take Fury out in 5 rounds max.
Hughie has skills, he will be hard to hit. I don't think Hughie would be a walk over, I think it would go the distance.
It took AJ 7 to get rid of Whyte and he is a lot easier to hit than Hughie, I wouldn't mind this fight either.
samwbr wrote:How will Matchroom sell Hughie Fury as a credible fight for Joshua after saying he needs to step? I'm not on any Joshua hype train but he'd take Fury out in 5 rounds max.
Hughie has skills, he will be hard to hit. I don't think Hughie would be a walk over, I think it would go the distance.
It took AJ 7 to get rid of Whyte and he is a lot easier to hit than Hughie, I wouldn't mind this fight either.
think it could be a good fight, Hughie has good defensive skills, he'd definitely make Joshua work, probably a better fight in 12 months time if Hughie continues to develop. Could be a good fight right now though.
samwbr wrote:How will Matchroom sell Hughie Fury as a credible fight for Joshua after saying he needs to step? I'm not on any Joshua hype train but he'd take Fury out in 5 rounds max.
I think it's reasonable to maintain that Hughie is better overall than anyone Joshua's fought. The guy HF handily beat a few months ago, as insipid as that fight was, very arguably deserved wins over AJ and Wilder's last opponents, and I believe Martin is roughly on the same level as Breazeale. Whyte usually looks quite sloppy and pretty much all he's done is land a good shot that backed AJ off for a round and a half, while Johnson was a journeyman near the end of his career when AJ faced him.
Defensively Hughie could pose some issues, although without much firepower I think AJ would start getting to him regularly at least by the middle rounds, and once AJ begins connecting I don't see Hughie lasting long.
Hughie should be brought through the British and European routes first.
At this stage, with Joshua beating some reasonable opposition impressively he's now a long way out in front, I still give Hughie a chance, but really could do with some sterner tests first, as others on here mention.
If there really serious , about this fight someone else pointed out and i would agree , its a cash out fight for Hughie in case he gets banned ,, Peronaly if i was his dad or his trainer , i would be telling him to go have 12 -18 months off get his body free of whatever it is he's got ,and grow stronger he's young he has the time on his hands
I feel that if this fight gets made it never happens. With Hughie's health and impending inquiry into drug use, it just stinks as postponement/cancellation. Is there a sense of Hearn wanting this fight because he thinks there's a good chance it won't happen? Raise Joshua's profile further (won't be damaging because it'll be easy to shift blame onto Fury's), give his title some protection, and give Joshua some further rest before Parker mandatory? I'm only speculating, but does anyone feel this a bit?
THEBUTCH wrote:Hughie should be brought through the British and European routes first.
At this stage, with Joshua beating some reasonable opposition impressively he's now a long way out in front, I still give Hughie a chance, but really could do with some sterner tests first, as others on here mention.
From what I have seen of Hughie, AJ would destroy him.
If Hughie is indeed found guilty of using drugs in his fight. Then even juiced up my sister hits harder than him. He's also got health problems which in around about way makes him lack dedication.
Hughie is cashing out. He'll get a million or two and get blasted out in under 3 rounds. He has nothing to stop Joshua coming forward and taking him out early.
Exoddus wrote:If Hughie is indeed found guilty of using drugs in his fight. Then even juiced up my sister hits harder than him. He's also got health problems which in around about way makes him lack dedication.
Hughie is cashing out. He'll get a million or two and get blasted out in under 3 rounds. He has nothing to stop Joshua coming forward and taking him out early.
It is also possible that he just has poor health, he's not an automaton.
I think AJ V Hughie Fury is a super fight in the future not now.
I would love to see AJ V Artur Szpilka after all he made total hell for Deontay Wilder until he was caught i think Szpilka could really give AJ a run for his money as long as he don't stick his chin out.
ChessBoxer wrote:I think AJ V Hughie Fury is a super fight in the future not now.
I would love to see AJ V Artur Szpilka after all he made total hell for Deontay Wilder until he was caught i think Szpilka could really give AJ a run for his money as long as he don't stick his chin out.
Yeah but Stiverne made for an even tougher test against Wilder, and considering he's being linked to fighting Joshua, it makes even more sense. I think Szpilka ends up the same way as against Wilder, vs. Joshua. A fit and motivated Stiverne takes Joshua much needed rounds.
Stiverne was a ponderous punching bag against Wilder. Szplka, despite his eventual nap on the canvas, was outboxing Deontay at times and gave him a much better fight.
That said, Joshua being able to say he stopped the one guy Wilder didn't would be a larger hype machine score than pretty much anything AJ could extract from a win over Szpilka.
