Will Joshua's Lack Of Rounds Play Into Wlad's Hands?

[keithmoonhangover]

AJ hasn't been the distance yet, hasn't been into the later rounds and still has question marks about his stamina.

Should AJ have had more learning fights earlier? What will happen in the later rounds? Can his stamina hold up in the kind of physical fight that Klitschko will give him?

[ElJefe]

I think Wlad will definitely look to take it late. Question is, will the pace in the early rounds be enough to take anything out of AJ's gas tank? If Wlad is happy to have a cagey first half of the fight throwing 20 punches per round you'd expect Joshua to be able to handle it without gassing.

[Stuarty]

Might not go in to the late rounds. If AJ connects on anyone there's more than a fair chance they'll go over. That's why it's so hard to match him.

Wlad should test AJs chin but you just never know. Personally I think AJ is getting Wlad at exactly the right time.

[davie]

Joshua's lack of rounds will play into Wlads hands.......Wlad who hasn't been in the ring in over a year?

[keithmoonhangover]

Joshua's lack of rounds will play into Wlads hands.......Wlad who hasn't been in the ring in over a year?

I know about his inactivity, of course I do, but this question is have AJ's lack of rounds hurt him?

[samwbr]

He'll knock Wlad out with a big backhand right.

[Horse]

Joshua's lack of rounds will play into Wlads hands.......Wlad who hasn't been in the ring in over a year?

Yes.

[davie]

Joshua's lack of rounds will play into Wlads hands.......Wlad who hasn't been in the ring in over a year?

I know about his inactivity, of course I do, but this question is have AJ's lack of rounds hurt him?

It's possible, but I don't see stamina being an issue.
A Joshua Wlad fight will be fought at a steady if not pedestrian cautious pace.
If Joshua can't keep up with a 41 year old man with 17 months of activity who was showing signs of getting old in the Jennings fight, I'd be concerned.

[Boxing Writer]

AJ hasn't been the distance yet, hasn't been into the later rounds and still has question marks about his stamina.

Should AJ have had more learning fights earlier? What will happen in the later rounds? Can his stamina hold up in the kind of physical fight that Klitschko will give him?

No, but lack of quality opponents will.

I'm a big fan of Joshua and I want him to win this fight, but while I think Wlad is well past his prime (much, much more so than Lennox was against Vitali), I think he will beat Joshua. I think Anthony has tremendous talent, but when your best opponent is Dillian Whyte and you are stepping up to face even faded Wladimir Klitshcko, it's a huge step up.

If Joshua loses to Wlad, I'll say he was a victim of Eddie Hearn's greediness. Because I think has HAS the talent to beat current faded version of Wlad, but lacks needed experience. He should have fought couople of guys like Pulev before facing Wald, but Eddie didn't want to risk megafight with Wlad at all, even if risk was only 10 or 20%.

[davie]

AJ hasn't been the distance yet, hasn't been into the later rounds and still has question marks about his stamina.

Should AJ have had more learning fights earlier? What will happen in the later rounds? Can his stamina hold up in the kind of physical fight that Klitschko will give him?

No, but lack of quality opponents will.

I'm a big fan of Joshua and I want him to win this fight, but while I think Wlad is well past his prime (much, much more so than Lennox was against Vitali), I think he will beat Joshua. I think Anthony has tremendous talent, but when your best opponent is Dillian Whyte and you are stepping up to face even faded Wladimir Klitshcko, it's a huge step up.

If Joshua loses to Wlad, I'll say he was a victim of Eddie Hearn's greediness. Because I think has HAS the talent to beat current faded version of Wlad, but lacks needed experience. He should have fought couople of guys like Pulev before facing Wald, but Eddie didn't want to risk megafight with Wlad at all, even if risk was only 10 or 20%.

That's probably nailed it, Joshua has never been challenged, never had to face anything like the difficulties presented by a top heavyweight like Klitschko.

Pulev would have been a good preperation.
Even take Parker as an example, Takam was a good hard learning fight and Ruiz is better than anyone Joshua has faced. He's been champion a day and he's had 2 better prep fights than Joshua.
Now I'd still take ASJ to starch Parker as I think he's better, but the experience Parker has might be invaluable

In fact Parker is another example of an opponent Hearn could tempted over to test AJ ahead of a big fight.

Of course the low risk, protect your asset model promoters abide by, prevents their fighters from really learning at the top level before being thrown in to huge fights

[rd350lc]

I'm suprised they've gone down this route and would have thought Parker was the safer option.

[JimJim2009]

AJ hasn't been the distance yet, hasn't been into the later rounds and still has question marks about his stamina.

Should AJ have had more learning fights earlier? What will happen in the later rounds? Can his stamina hold up in the kind of physical fight that Klitschko will give him?

No, but lack of quality opponents will.

I'm a big fan of Joshua and I want him to win this fight, but while I think Wlad is well past his prime (much, much more so than Lennox was against Vitali), I think he will beat Joshua. I think Anthony has tremendous talent, but when your best opponent is Dillian Whyte and you are stepping up to face even faded Wladimir Klitshcko, it's a huge step up.

If Joshua loses to Wlad, I'll say he was a victim of Eddie Hearn's greediness. Because I think has HAS the talent to beat current faded version of Wlad, but lacks needed experience. He should have fought couople of guys like Pulev before facing Wald, but Eddie didn't want to risk megafight with Wlad at all, even if risk was only 10 or 20%.

That's probably nailed it, Joshua has never been challenged, never had to face anything like the difficulties presented by a top heavyweight like Klitschko.

Pulev would have been a good preperation.
Even take Parker as an example, Takam was a good hard learning fight and Ruiz is better than anyone Joshua has faced. He's been champion a day and he's had 2 better prep fights than Joshua.
Now I'd still take ASJ to starch Parker as I think he's better, but the experience Parker has might be invaluable

In fact Parker is another example of an opponent Hearn could tempted over to test AJ ahead of a big fight.

Of course the low risk, protect your asset model promoters abide by, prevents their fighters from really learning at the top level before being thrown in to huge fights

Very good points above. The downside of taking a fighter down the "every fight is a PPV event" route at the earliest opportunity (British title level with Joshua) means development through tough 8/10 rounders comes second to giving shows "event" status. Wonder if it will haunt Joshua next year. It is a very good point, that Joshua has not had to face any real difficulties so far and now he's in at the very top level.

[gilgamesh]

I don't figure Wlad's got it in him anymore to give a guy like Joshua serious problems. Wlad is experienced enough that he'll be able to give AJ fits early I figure, but I just don't see him being active enough to take a decision against Joshua. He'll be needing to check Joshua's chin, and Wladimir is definitely the hardest hitter Joshua will have faced.

Should be interesting.

I like Joshua by KO.

[Noxy]

You would think so. How many hard rounds has Josh had, hardly any

[dookus]

Only if Wlad makes him work for it by pumping the jab out and forcing Joshua to come to him consistently for 6 or 7 rounds. Whether he can still maintain a hard enough pace to test AJ I don't know.

[sharpei_louis]

You would think so. How many hard rounds has Josh had, hardly any

How many hard rounds has Wlad had? I don't know that he has it in him anymore to keep Joshua off more than 4-5 rounds and will be terrified of letting his own hands go... I can only see Joshua mid-round KO here.

[Kilburn]

I certainly wouldn't be betting my house on Klitschko winning this through some kind of attrition. If he doesn't outbox Joshua in the first round then it'll be downhill from there IMO.

Then bring on Wilder for the real fight.

[Noxy]

You would think so. How many hard rounds has Josh had, hardly any

How many hard rounds has Wlad had? I don't know that he has it in him anymore to keep Joshua off more than 4-5 rounds and will be terrified of letting his own hands go... I can only see Joshua mid-round KO here.

Yes, that could happen. On the other hand, we know what Joshua is going to do and so does Wlad. If Wlad gets his jab going and isn't terrified or gun-shy, then it's game on.

[keithmoonhangover]

AJ hasn't been the distance yet, hasn't been into the later rounds and still has question marks about his stamina.

Should AJ have had more learning fights earlier? What will happen in the later rounds? Can his stamina hold up in the kind of physical fight that Klitschko will give him?

No, but lack of quality opponents will.

I'm a big fan of Joshua and I want him to win this fight, but while I think Wlad is well past his prime (much, much more so than Lennox was against Vitali), I think he will beat Joshua. I think Anthony has tremendous talent, but when your best opponent is Dillian Whyte and you are stepping up to face even faded Wladimir Klitshcko, it's a huge step up.

If Joshua loses to Wlad, I'll say he was a victim of Eddie Hearn's greediness. Because I think has HAS the talent to beat current faded version of Wlad, but lacks needed experience. He should have fought couople of guys like Pulev before facing Wald, but Eddie didn't want to risk megafight with Wlad at all, even if risk was only 10 or 20%.

So if Wlad wins it's because of Eddie's greediness? Nothing to do with the two boxers? Ha'way man, give your head a shake. Joshua wants this fight, Klitschko wants this fight. If they didn't, it wouldn't be happening.

[magwitch]

I think Wladimir will win the fight inside the distance. I think he’ll get him with a hook or something. Joshua going into deep water. 5 year ago version of Wlad would have made it straightforward, but even this version has enough left, I think.

[Spiker]

This is the fight when Joshua gets exposed IMO. Providing Wlad pulls the trigger then AJ is done early. He's very orthodox compared to fury who twitched his way through the fight with Wlad. If Whyte staggered him then I'm pretty sure Wlad can ko him. Despite Britains love for AJ he's no Lennox lewes more of a Frank Bruno

[jamesmcdonnell]

It remains to be seen what Wlad has left.

Was he unable to pull the trigger, or as I believe, was it Fury's movement which exacerbated any problems he had with his reflexes and timing?

Joshua's not got that type of movement, and seems likely to be easier to find as he comes in and out in straight lines most of the time.

If Wlad is able to establish the jab, there could be a very rough night ahead for Joshua. Wlad is so much more experienced.

[Covfefe]

It remains to be seen what Wlad has left.

Was he unable to pull the trigger, or as I believe, was it Fury's movement which exacerbated any problems he had with his reflexes and timing?

Joshua's not got that type of movement, and seems likely to be easier to find as he comes in and out in straight lines most of the time.

If Wlad is able to establish the jab, there could be a very rough night ahead for Joshua. Wlad is so much more experienced.

Wlad's style is much more than his jab though. He's been able to physically grab and wrestle most fighters for the last ten years, I don't think he'll be able to do that as easily to Joshua.

[jamesmcdonnell]

It remains to be seen what Wlad has left.

Was he unable to pull the trigger, or as I believe, was it Fury's movement which exacerbated any problems he had with his reflexes and timing?

Joshua's not got that type of movement, and seems likely to be easier to find as he comes in and out in straight lines most of the time.

If Wlad is able to establish the jab, there could be a very rough night ahead for Joshua. Wlad is so much more experienced.

Wlad's style is much more than his jab though. He's been able to physically grab and wrestle most fighters for the last ten years, I don't think he'll be able to do that as easily to Joshua.

No, agreed, however, Joshua's not got that great an inside game, Wlad's had years to hone that mauling style.

[Covfefe]

It remains to be seen what Wlad has left.

Was he unable to pull the trigger, or as I believe, was it Fury's movement which exacerbated any problems he had with his reflexes and timing?

Joshua's not got that type of movement, and seems likely to be easier to find as he comes in and out in straight lines most of the time.

If Wlad is able to establish the jab, there could be a very rough night ahead for Joshua. Wlad is so much more experienced.

Wlad's style is much more than his jab though. He's been able to physically grab and wrestle most fighters for the last ten years, I don't think he'll be able to do that as easily to Joshua.

No, agreed, however, Joshua's not got that great an inside game, Wlad's had years to hone that mauling style.

He's definitely better at it than Joshua, but he's always been bigger and stronger. Joshua is as big as him, he looked bigger in the ring the other night too, I just don't think he'll be able to get away with it as successfully as he was against someone like Povetkin who he wrestled to death. The jab is key for Wlad, it'll be interesting to see how he deals with a fighter with a larger reach. I'm with you about the Fury fight, I think Fury's movement was his issue, we'll find out how much he really has left in this fight.