Anthony Joshua …. Have We Seen The Best of Him

[Spud]

Forum,

For sometime now I have been concerned about Anthony Joshua.

My first reason is, everytime I have seen AJ in recent interviews I have got the impression he simply wants to be anywhere but answering questions… the prime example was a recent Michelle Phelps interview where I feel AJ was rude and disrespectful. He was more interested in saying hello to people who were walking past.

Second reason, AJs behaviour after the Usyk fight had me thinking AJ was ill. Put that with a report a few months ago AJ had a spat withba student who dared to criticise him. This behaviour was confirmed when he seemed to go for people after the Usyk fight.

3rd reason, AJ seems to want to do things completely his own way by having a number of trainers.

Now, I know many of you can rip holes in my reasoning, before you do consider this. As soon as AJ signed for Matchroom, they along with his own management team were at pains to direct AJ on the correct PR path.

I remember Dillian Whyte prior to their fight years ago now saying AJ wasnt fooling anyone with his act in front of the cameras.

So what is it?

AJ is now showing his true colours?

AJ PR image is falling apart?

AJ is having personal problems?

Have we seen the best of the AJ, and dont be surprised if he loses his next fight whoever the opponent is.

What are your thoughts?

[big lennox]

Someone's mental wellbeing is obviously a matter of some delicacy.

But, yes, like you, I do have concerns about Joshua's well being at the moment. He has always come over as a good person but seems distracted and a bit lost of late.

I think he was very rude and disrespectful to Michelle Phelps in that interview whilst also trying to be nice to her. I think she won't hold it against him as she probably concluded that he is a bit erratic at the moment.

But, after the Usyk rematch he came across as being concussed, but now I wonder if the stress of it all has taken its toll, and a break or even retirement from the sport wouldn't be a bad thing.

He has had an epic career and can be immensely proud and, hopefully, will still have a lot to offer the sport as an ambassador.

[DrDuke]

I've been always saying, that Joshua had been receiving dividends in advance.

[Spud]

Someone's mental wellbeing is obviously a matter of some delicacy.

But, yes, like you, I do have concerns about Joshua's well being at the moment. He has always come over as a good person but seems distracted and a bit lost of late.

I think he was very rude and disrespectful to Michelle Phelps in that interview whilst also trying to be nice to her. I think she won't hold it against him as she probably concluded that he is a bit erratic at the moment.

But, after the Usyk rematch he came across as being concussed, but now I wonder if the stress of it all has taken its toll, and a break or even retirement from the sport wouldn't be a bad thing.

He has had an epic career and can be immensely proud and, hopefully, will still have a lot to offer the sport as an ambassador.

If the changes in AJ have been noticed by us, I wonder if his number 1 fan, Eddie Hearn has had the balls to say something.

[coneye]

Forum,

For sometime now I have been concerned about Anthony Joshua.

My first reason is, everytime I have seen AJ in recent interviews I have got the impression he simply wants to be anywhere but answering questions… the prime example was a recent Michelle Phelps interview where I feel AJ was rude and disrespectful. He was more interested in saying hello to people who were walking past.

Second reason, AJs behaviour after the Usyk fight had me thinking AJ was ill. Put that with a report a few months ago AJ had a spat withba student who dared to criticise him. This behaviour was confirmed when he seemed to go for people after the Usyk fight.

3rd reason, AJ seems to want to do things completely his own way by having a number of trainers.

Now, I know many of you can rip holes in my reasoning, before you do consider this. As soon as AJ signed for Matchroom, they along with his own management team were at pains to direct AJ on the correct PR path.

I remember Dillian Whyte prior to their fight years ago now saying AJ wasnt fooling anyone with his act in front of the cameras.

So what is it?

AJ is now showing his true colours?

AJ PR image is falling apart?

AJ is having personal problems?

Have we seen the best of the AJ, and dont be surprised if he loses his next fight whoever the opponent is.

What are your thoughts?

Probably a bit of all the above ,,, personally i think just take 12 months off , come back with a complete different trainer and team ,, would be the best thing for him

[Deserter]

Someone's mental wellbeing is obviously a matter of some delicacy.

But, yes, like you, I do have concerns about Joshua's well being at the moment. He has always come over as a good person but seems distracted and a bit lost of late.

I think he was very rude and disrespectful to Michelle Phelps in that interview whilst also trying to be nice to her. I think she won't hold it against him as she probably concluded that he is a bit erratic at the moment.

But, after the Usyk rematch he came across as being concussed, but now I wonder if the stress of it all has taken its toll, and a break or even retirement from the sport wouldn't be a bad thing.

He has had an epic career and can be immensely proud and, hopefully, will still have a lot to offer the sport as an ambassador.

If the changes in AJ have been noticed by us, I wonder if his number 1 fan, Eddie Hearn has had the balls to say something.

Eddie has no cash cow in his business relationships like AJ, so he will be doing everything in his power to keep him in play.
In terms of your original question, yes, of course we have. We all know the damage that losses can do to a boxer's confidence and I think so much of AJ's A-game was built on self-belief, so logically you strip some of that away and he won't be the same force. Not to mention the fact that opponents are now aware of his vulnerabilities (physical and mental) so will seek to exploit them. We've seen this type of story play out a thousand times over in the sport.

[Ezzard]

I like Joshua. And I rate him highly. He was an excellent champion who took on all-comers.

But he was lucky to win the gold medal. Savon clearly beat him. But everything came to him after he won that. Compare his road to Joyce's who should have won gold but didn't.

I hope AJ still has the fire. There are some truly great fights out there for him and I suspect he will at some point win back at least a portion of the title.

[Deserter]

suspect he will at some point win back at least a portion of the title.

Eddie will be doing everything in his power to do that, but I'd favour Usyk, Fury and Joyce over him, with Wilder as a 50/50 shoot-out. Would favour him over Dubois though

[Twinkle Toes]

I don't think he has or will ever recover from losing to fat Ruiz. That was such a bad loss.

After the Fury fight falling through, his attitude seems to be along the lines of i'll come back when I feel like it.

[tony1234]

I don't think he has or will ever recover from losing to fat Ruiz. That was such a bad loss.

After the Fury fight falling through, his attitude seems to be along the lines of i'll come back when I feel like it.

The Ruiz fight ended the big beast aura about him and he's struggled since. I don't think he will box again, what is the point ? He's surely made enough cash to live a decent life

[cormack]

we probably have the seen the best of AJ maybe he has peaked whilst the peer group has improved ie Usyk / Joyce are right up there now but were not spoken of in the same breath a few years back - also Fury got his act together , plus he never got the wilder fight when it should have happened a few years ago .

[Ezzard]

suspect he will at some point win back at least a portion of the title.

Eddie will be doing everything in his power to do that, but I'd favour Usyk, Fury and Joyce over him, with Wilder as a 50/50 shoot-out. Would favour him over Dubois though

Not arguing on your comments. Just that you don't always have to face the top boys to win a title.

[Noxy]

Him and Fury is still a good match.

[cormack]

suspect he will at some point win back at least a portion of the title.

Eddie will be doing everything in his power to do that, but I'd favour Usyk, Fury and Joyce over him, with Wilder as a 50/50 shoot-out. Would favour him over Dubois though

Not arguing on your comments. Just that you don't always have to face the top boys to win a title.

yes look at wilder ! held a belt for years being handed easy tomato cans by the wbc

[handsofstone]

Joshua's still a live contender in the division, it'll take the likes of Fury and Wilder to ease him out of genuine contention but he looks like he's regressing, he looked poor for spells in the Povetkin and Pulev fights but he's still finished them off emphatically

It's strange because for the most part the Whyte rematch was always interesting because both guys had improved since they fought but it def feels like both now on the downward slide, for me though it's all about the resume and these other cats need the big names to edge Joshua out of the top 3/5

[Deserter]

suspect he will at some point win back at least a portion of the title.

Eddie will be doing everything in his power to do that, but I'd favour Usyk, Fury and Joyce over him, with Wilder as a 50/50 shoot-out. Would favour him over Dubois though

Not arguing on your comments. Just that you don't always have to face the top boys to win a title.

Yep, fair comment mate.

[Spud]

Joshua's still a live contender in the division, it'll take the likes of Fury and Wilder to ease him out of genuine contention but he looks like he's regressing, he looked poor for spells in the Povetkin and Pulev fights but he's still finished them off emphatically

It's strange because for the most part the Whyte rematch was always interesting because both guys had improved since they fought but it def feels like both now on the downward slide, for me though it's all about the resume and these other cats need the big names to edge Joshua out of the top 3/5

I am not so sure. I honestly think the one ingredient to remaining at or near the top, AJ is guilty of and thats complacency.

I say in 2023 AJ will retire. His ego will not take another defeat

[Lenny Cravats]

AJ did, I think, truly believe that he was invincible. When Ruiz smashed him, he lost all of that. He tried to reinvent himself as a 'learner', and for his ego he had to be the best learner on the planet. The second Usyk defeat lost that for him as well.

He'd never be happy being consensus third (at best) in the division. So now he has to contend with knowing that he isn't invincible, nor the best learner on the planet. So where's he going to go? That kind of stuff is going to weigh heavy on him.
He's also lost his adoring support. They've all seen him get beaten up by a fat bloke and the 'real' heavyweight champion. His confidence in his ability was always his main strength. He used to love taking opponents apart and look how he can back against Wlad! If he were to have that fight now, I don't think he's persevere.

[HomicideHenry]

I don't know if it's a matter of AJ's true colors showing because everybody always said he was a prick in real life behind the scenes, or if it's that the man literally is going through a George Foreman type of meltdown after losing in Zaire, or the possibility that Joshua is suffering from some sort of brain trauma that is causing him to be depressed or angry.

I'm reminded of Ike Ibeabuchi who basically took so many punches to the head that he became a schizophrenic. It's not out of the realm of possibility that when you have a man participating at such a high level that he develops the same type of condition that football players sometimes get.

Or maybe it's a combination of all three to one extent or another. I never quite bought into the persona of Anthony Joshua as a public figure especially when so many boxers pointed out that what you saw on camera was not what you saw when the cameras were off.

I'm reminded of it of a book I read years ago by Dr Death Steve Williams, the professional wrestler, who said that for some bizarre reason an awful lot of people start believing that they are their character and are genuinely bad ass when they really ain't.

I think Joshua bought into the hype surrounding him that he was untouchable because he looked like some sort of Adonis and because basically every opponent he fought crumbled--- either because they were limited to begin with, they really weren't all that great to begin with, or they were a little old.

And the moment he lost to fatman Andy Ruiz, and then he lost to the much smaller Oleksandr Usyk, I think any and all notions that Joshua had in his head that he was so much bigger and fitter than everyone else in the division evaporated in his mind because his entire career he's believed that his fitness and physique and size was the primary reason for his success.

The first words out of his mouth after losing to the Ukrainian in the rematch was, "How did you beat me? I'm so much bigger and stronger than you..." which was said with so much incredulity that you can tell the man was beyond shocked out of his mind because he truly did believe all he had to do was try to out muscle Usyk.

[Gran Hermano]

I don't think he has or will ever recover from losing to fat Ruiz. That was such a bad loss.

After the Fury fight falling through, his attitude seems to be along the lines of i'll come back when I feel like it.

I think he took that defeat surprisingly well. Came back, adjusted and won his titles back. After Usyk he tried the same shit again and realised he’s not the best and will never be the best.

Bit like Wilder in that respect.

Still think he can come back and beat Wilder and Whyte. Joyce and Fury are a different proposition.

[afcpaul]

I think we’re seeing his true colours. Obviously not in AJ’s case but it’s like “roid rage” behaviour.

[KiwiRider]

I've been always saying, that Joshua had been receiving dividends in advance.

Sorry Doc,
Not sure what you mean?

[DrDuke]

I've been always saying, that Joshua had been receiving dividends in advance.

Sorry Doc,
Not sure what you mean?

After he unfairly won the hometown Olympics, he got very good promotion in the pros and a lot of people were expecting him to become the baddest man out there. He was tracked to those belts quickly and the vast majority started to consider him the man. But how? It wasn't him, who had won every round against Wlad, instead he had been almost stopped. It wasn't him, who had faced the other guy out of the big trio. Eventually he got exposed.

[KiwiRider]

I've been always saying, that Joshua had been receiving dividends in advance.

Sorry Doc,
Not sure what you mean?

After he unfairly won the hometown Olympics, he got very good promotion in the pros and a lot of people were expecting him to become the baddest man out there. He was tracked to those belts quickly and the vast majority started to consider him the man. But how? It wasn't him, who had won every round against Wlad, instead he had been almost stopped. It wasn't him, who had faced the other guy out of the big trio. Eventually he got exposed.

Thanks.
It was him who had an edge of the seat, fight of the year with Wlad.
It was him looking too good to be accepted to fight the other guy out of the big trio. Don't forget Wilders team picked fat kebab shop Fury over undefeated 3 belt Joshua.
Sure that blew up in their faces, but the intention was to keep Wilder safe and protect his "0" with another lame defence

[DrDuke]

Sorry Doc,
Not sure what you mean?

After he unfairly won the hometown Olympics, he got very good promotion in the pros and a lot of people were expecting him to become the baddest man out there. He was tracked to those belts quickly and the vast majority started to consider him the man. But how? It wasn't him, who had won every round against Wlad, instead he had been almost stopped. It wasn't him, who had faced the other guy out of the big trio. Eventually he got exposed.

Thanks.
It was him who had an edge of the seat, fight of the year with Wlad.
It was him looking too good to be accepted to fight the other guy out of the big trio. Don't forget Wilders team picked fat kebab shop Fury over undefeated 3 belt Joshua.
Sure that blew up in their faces, but the intention was to keep Wilder safe and protect his "0" with another lame defence

Yeah, Wilder got quite many early undeserved dividends as well. And for all that time the Gypsy King was being prematurely written off.