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A long, long time ago, twice reigning World Heavyweight Champion of the world Floyd Patterson said:
.
“It’s easy to do anything in victory. It’s in defeat that a man reveals himself.”
.
And indeed, plenty of men have shown grace and magnanimity in victory, but often come emotionally apart after a sporting collapse. Anthony Joshua is seemingly in the latter category, or so it would appear, judging from this past weekend…
.
Last Saturday in Jeddah, “governing” world champion Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk once again disposed of Joshua, although this time, it thankfully was a more evenly contested affair.
.
Joshua was better and shrewder this time ‘round, but Usyk adjusted his fortitude and he also managed to dig deeper than before into his “wellspring of courageousness”. In fact, in recent years, one of the most obvious examples of proper prize-winning mettle was in the 2nd clash between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Álvarez.
.
The Mexican had on the face of it… “piggybanked” a large portion of the early rounds. And in between stanzas, Abel Sanchez leaned into the Kazakh’s ear and told him he was letting it “drift” away. Under the (motivating) circumstances, Golovkin came out roaring in the 2nd half of the engagement and showed awe-inspiring dauntlessness and conditioning that allowed him to sweep many of the late rounds.
.
Well, in Jeddah, it was a razor-thin “discussion” heading into the 9th, when Joshua finally seemed to break through and was by then convincingly imposing his size, strength and power on the much smaller man. Joshua laid in with his bodyshots and bone-jarring power and the Eastern European’s body language gave the impression of wilting under the Watfordian’s encumbrance.
.
In the lonesomeness of his corner, Usyk started speaking to himself and had the appearance of a devotee deep within the solitude of “spiritual beseechment“. The bell rang and the Ukrainian came roaring back to center ring with renovated zeal, and shockingly… hard-charged his “dark Goliath” backward with skill and considerable gusto. Tearing the Briton asunder with combinations and incontrovertibly reasserting himself into the fray and the scorecards.
.
Usyk wanted to leave no doubt in the eyes and minds of fans, judges, journalists and historians. He wished to impress upon patrons that it was (once again) his night. And dare I say, round 10 is already in clear running for “round of the year“. Joshua had in all likelihood turned the tide in the 9th, but in the following round, the man who had served with the 205th Territorial defense battalion pushed back and snatched the momentum back in his favor. It’s the sort of 3 minute sample that will be long remembered in the halls of Canastota, Ohio.
.
Considering that Usyk had won the first fight, his 2nd triumph over Joshua doesn’t really raise his stock or profit-making profile, except in the minds of overeager newspaper men rushing to mythologize him. Frankly, while I respect the Ukrainian’s courage, ambition, resilience, technique and footwork, I do not see him as an all-time great after only 20 professional bouts. Joshua on the other hand had lost in such acquiescent form, that frankly, it was not (too)difficult to make a better go of it. And indeed, Joshua did look much better than 11 months back.
.
In September of 2021 Joshua had looked ill-skilled, “frail” and “haggard” in the final rounds. But this time, he “fought like a big man”, making good use of his brawniness, power and “bigness“, instead of short-sightedly trying to outbox and out-skill a natural fighter with 350 amateur fights on his record.
.
Is Joshua finished at the top level? Not by any means within realm of possibility. Joshua is a star, a superstar, and 3 defeats(so far) won’t change that. He is handsome, has a fair amount of charisma and grandiloquence (with an unhealthy dosage of surreptitious”claptrap” on the side…), is a native English speaker and is an exciting and hard-punching fighter. In fact, there’s no doubt in my mind that despite losing to him twice, Joshua remains commercially a much bigger draw than Usyk, and that may very well never change, no matter how many accolades are bestowed on the Ukrainian.
.
I think Joshua should stick with Robert Garcia as a trainer, for there was discernible amelioration (or tactical levelheadedness…) in his “armoury”. I feel that Joshua should “set sail” on a “tour” of 2 or 3 fights where he’ll get better acclimated to Garcia’s methodology and remain in the public’s eye by fighting big (and profitable) fights, just not title fights. And, Joshua’s stardom may very well allow him to make more “coin” in non-title outing than Usyk in defending his 3 world title straps.
.
If I was in his ear, I’d have Joshua mix it up with the likes of Joe Joyce, Filip Hrgovic, Dillian Whyte (again) or Derek Chisora. Any of the 4 have enough clout and ranking to draw big money and big crowds in Britain vs Joshua. Plus, they are all winnable fights. Some may be durable, some may be big, some may have power, but none of them is celebrated as technician (as Usyk clearly is and rightfully so) and in consequence, “Big Josh” should be capable of marshaling enough motivation and prowess to be able to dispose of all 4 and make a bundle in the process.
.
What is Joshua lacking at the elite level? Well, like most (but not all) big, athletic man, he lives and dies on “muscular deftness”, but like most “bodybuilders” he appears quite stiff, as a result, he fails to throw combinations, he’s heavy and plodding footed and does not have otherworldly reflexes. Yes, some casuals might look at Andy Ruiz Jr‘ big belly or Usyk‘s soft torso and assume them to be less impressive, but the lack of sinewy flesh endows them with the sort of “suppleness” that permits them to react faster and often in quantity.
.
Straightforwardly speaking, Joshua looks(and often sounds) like a star in a pair of posing trunks, but inside the ring, a number of times he has looked “robotic“, rigid, slow, immobile and “brittle“. That’s a long “laundry list” of frailties and drawbacks at the elite level. He should be praised for showing considerable moxie vs Usyk in the 2nd go ‘round, but I would never bet on a limited skilled, well marketed “muscleman” to ever beat men such as Usyk or Tyson Fury. Both those gelatinous bellied Champions are too swift and flexible for A.J.
.
Back in the late 1970’s, his doubters used to refer to “Sugar” Ray (Charles) Leonard as a “creature of television“. Somebody who had been media-coached to always say and do the right things in order to endear himself to corporate sponsors. And in the 1990s, Oscar De La Hoya was the “new Leonard”. He wore linen trousers, khaki shoes high-society polo shirts, played plenty of golf, smiled a lot and was ( on the face of it ) very humble and polite.
.
I’ve always liked Joshua, as I found him to be very marketable – and a sport needs a “locomotive” to pull it forward and upward – handsome, soft-spoken, wholesome, clean-cut, etc. Some (who knew him better than me) said it was all an “act“.
.
I have only ever defended him, I saw him as the man to carry Boxing on his back and be its grand ambassador. But after losing (again) to Usyk, we saw (and heard) another facet to Joshua. A classeless, bellyaching, infantile, idiotic slant, which I care not to see/hear ever again. I chicken-heartedly speculate that ever since 2012 we’ve been sold a “bill of goods” or a “song and dance” by the master marketeers (and “song and dance men”) at Matchroom Boxing‘s HQ in Brentwood, Essex.
.
A long, long time ago, twice reigning World Heavyweight Champion of the world Floyd Patterson said:
.
“It’s easy to do anything in victory. It’s in defeat that a man reveals himself.”
.
And indeed, plenty of men have shown grace and magnanimity in victory, but often come emotionally apart after a sporting collapse. Anthony Joshua is seemingly in the latter category, or so it would appear, judging from this past weekend…
.
Last Saturday in Jeddah, “governing” world champion Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk once again disposed of Joshua, although this time, it thankfully was a more evenly contested affair.
.
Joshua was better and shrewder this time ‘round, but Usyk adjusted his fortitude and he also managed to dig deeper than before into his “wellspring of courageousness”. In fact, in recent years, one of the most obvious examples of proper prize-winning mettle was in the 2nd clash between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Álvarez.
.
The Mexican had on the face of it… “piggybanked” a large portion of the early rounds. And in between stanzas, Abel Sanchez leaned into the Kazakh’s ear and told him he was letting it “drift” away. Under the (motivating) circumstances, Golovkin came out roaring in the 2nd half of the engagement and showed awe-inspiring dauntlessness and conditioning that allowed him to sweep many of the late rounds.
.
Well, in Jeddah, it was a razor-thin “discussion” heading into the 9th, when Joshua finally seemed to break through and was by then convincingly imposing his size, strength and power on the much smaller man. Joshua laid in with his bodyshots and bone-jarring power and the Eastern European’s body language gave the impression of wilting under the Watfordian’s encumbrance.
.
In the lonesomeness of his corner, Usyk started speaking to himself and had the appearance of a devotee deep within the solitude of “spiritual beseechment“. The bell rang and the Ukrainian came roaring back to center ring with renovated zeal, and shockingly… hard-charged his “dark Goliath” backward with skill and considerable gusto. Tearing the Briton asunder with combinations and incontrovertibly reasserting himself into the fray and the scorecards.
.
Usyk wanted to leave no doubt in the eyes and minds of fans, judges, journalists and historians. He wished to impress upon patrons that it was (once again) his night. And dare I say, round 10 is already in clear running for “round of the year“. Joshua had in all likelihood turned the tide in the 9th, but in the following round, the man who had served with the 205th Territorial defense battalion pushed back and snatched the momentum back in his favor. It’s the sort of 3 minute sample that will be long remembered in the halls of Canastota, Ohio.
.
Considering that Usyk had won the first fight, his 2nd triumph over Joshua doesn’t really raise his stock or profit-making profile, except in the minds of overeager newspaper men rushing to mythologize him. Frankly, while I respect the Ukrainian’s courage, ambition, resilience, technique and footwork, I do not see him as an all-time great after only 20 professional bouts. Joshua on the other hand had lost in such acquiescent form, that frankly, it was not (too)difficult to make a better go of it. And indeed, Joshua did look much better than 11 months back.
.
In September of 2021 Joshua had looked ill-skilled, “frail” and “haggard” in the final rounds. But this time, he “fought like a big man”, making good use of his brawniness, power and “bigness“, instead of short-sightedly trying to outbox and out-skill a natural fighter with 350 amateur fights on his record.
.
Is Joshua finished at the top level? Not by any means within realm of possibility. Joshua is a star, a superstar, and 3 defeats(so far) won’t change that. He is handsome, has a fair amount of charisma and grandiloquence (with an unhealthy dosage of surreptitious”claptrap” on the side…), is a native English speaker and is an exciting and hard-punching fighter. In fact, there’s no doubt in my mind that despite losing to him twice, Joshua remains commercially a much bigger draw than Usyk, and that may very well never change, no matter how many accolades are bestowed on the Ukrainian.
.
I think Joshua should stick with Robert Garcia as a trainer, for there was discernible amelioration (or tactical levelheadedness…) in his “armoury”. I feel that Joshua should “set sail” on a “tour” of 2 or 3 fights where he’ll get better acclimated to Garcia’s methodology and remain in the public’s eye by fighting big (and profitable) fights, just not title fights. And, Joshua’s stardom may very well allow him to make more “coin” in non-title outing than Usyk in defending his 3 world title straps.
.
If I was in his ear, I’d have Joshua mix it up with the likes of Joe Joyce, Filip Hrgovic, Dillian Whyte (again) or Derek Chisora. Any of the 4 have enough clout and ranking to draw big money and big crowds in Britain vs Joshua. Plus, they are all winnable fights. Some may be durable, some may be big, some may have power, but none of them is celebrated as technician (as Usyk clearly is and rightfully so) and in consequence, “Big Josh” should be capable of marshaling enough motivation and prowess to be able to dispose of all 4 and make a bundle in the process.
.
What is Joshua lacking at the elite level? Well, like most (but not all) big, athletic man, he lives and dies on “muscular deftness”, but like most “bodybuilders” he appears quite stiff, as a result, he fails to throw combinations, he’s heavy and plodding footed and does not have otherworldly reflexes. Yes, some casuals might look at Andy Ruiz Jr‘ big belly or Usyk‘s soft torso and assume them to be less impressive, but the lack of sinewy flesh endows them with the sort of “suppleness” that permits them to react faster and often in quantity.
.
Straightforwardly speaking, Joshua looks(and often sounds) like a star in a pair of posing trunks, but inside the ring, a number of times he has looked “robotic“, rigid, slow, immobile and “brittle“. That’s a long “laundry list” of frailties and drawbacks at the elite level. He should be praised for showing considerable moxie vs Usyk in the 2nd go ‘round, but I would never bet on a limited skilled, well marketed “muscleman” to ever beat men such as Usyk or Tyson Fury. Both those gelatinous bellied Champions are too swift and flexible for A.J.
.
Back in the late 1970’s, his doubters used to refer to “Sugar” Ray (Charles) Leonard as a “creature of television“. Somebody who had been media-coached to always say and do the right things in order to endear himself to corporate sponsors. And in the 1990s, Oscar De La Hoya was the “new Leonard”. He wore linen trousers, khaki shoes high-society polo shirts, played plenty of golf, smiled a lot and was ( on the face of it ) very humble and polite.
.
I’ve always liked Joshua, as I found him to be very marketable – and a sport needs a “locomotive” to pull it forward and upward – handsome, soft-spoken, wholesome, clean-cut, etc. Some (who knew him better than me) said it was all an “act“.
.
I have only ever defended him, I saw him as the man to carry Boxing on his back and be its grand ambassador. But after losing (again) to Usyk, we saw (and heard) another facet to Joshua. A classeless, bellyaching, infantile, idiotic slant, which I care not to see/hear ever again. I chicken-heartedly speculate that ever since 2012 we’ve been sold a “bill of goods” or a “song and dance” by the master marketeers (and “song and dance men”) at Matchroom Boxing‘s HQ in Brentwood, Essex.
.
I can only fathom that in his broken understanding of English, Uysk must have been thinking in bewilderment … “goodness me, are these Western Europeans embarrassingly immature and psychically fragile assholes…” (“and why is he calling me «Bro»???“)
.
As a resident of the westernmost country in Continental Europe, I felt deeply disconcerted with the imbecilic posturing on display. He sounded like a 14 year old who watched one too many wrestling promos or hip-hop videos. Truly cringeworthy and ill-fitting behaviour from a 32 year old adult “man”. Shame on you, Anthony. Pardon my candor, but you came across as a felicitous dunce!
.
.
As a resident of the westernmost country in Continental Europe, I felt deeply disconcerted with the imbecilic posturing on display. He sounded like a 14 year old who watched one too many wrestling promos or hip-hop videos. Truly cringeworthy and ill-fitting behaviour from a 32 year old adult “man”. Shame on you, Anthony. Pardon my candor, but you came across as a felicitous dunce!
.
There I was 3 or 4 years back thinking that one Deontay Wilder came across as an ignorant, quasi-racist (or overly “tribalist“), childlike, unsophisticated and harebrained halfwit. But now, I think they deserve each other, and that’s a big “meal ticket” down the road, likely in 2023.
.
Neither man has a belt, but they have big fan followings (or at least, Joshua does), and nowhere can they make more money than fighting each other. In light of Wilder’s “Nuclear” right hand, and Joshua’s less than robust jaw line, that would be a (very) perilous assignment for A.J. But Wilder is very technically incompetent and can (and has been) outboxed. Question remains if Joshua is skilled enough to outclass Wilder like he wisely outplayed Andy Ruiz Jr. in late 2019? It would be one hell of a gamble by promoter Eddie Hearn. But the money involved may just prove too appetizing.
.
Being a good promoter involves quite a bit of creativity and marketing (and media) savvy. And whenever one of Eddie Hearn‘s fighters loses, he claims the opponent was the “Pound for Pound” #1. So, on this year alone, by his reckoning, Dmitry Bivol is P4P #1 after beating Canelo Álvarez, and so is Oleksandr Usyk after defeating Joshua. I fearfully forebode that if Chris Eubank Jr. overcomes Conor Benn in early October, I suspect that in Eddie ” John’s “high-flying” mind, Eubank will also be rated as a top P4Pounder…
.
Usyk won by split decision ( judge Glenn Feldman bizarrely judged Joshua the winner ) but to these eyeballs of mine, that was pure unadulterated “poppycock“, as I had the Ukrainian winning by 3 or 4 points as he swept all 3 Championship rounds.
.
Unaffectedly the Boxing world now naturally clamors for Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury for all the marbles/belts. And much like one year ago I felt that Joshua was too big for the then unremarkable (at heavyweight) Usyk, I now also feel that Fury is too gargantuan (an apt choice of wordmanship…) a “commission” for the Crimean.
.
But this time, I have seen Usyk handle a man 20 pounds more massive. Tyson is… 50 pounds larger than Usyk and far more skilled than Joshua, and eyeing up the size difference, I cannot in all consciousness pick Usyk to emerge victorious, but it would not amaze me if it goes the full 12 round distance.
.
One thing is for certain, for anybody that is appreciative of the finer points of Boxing, that fight (if it comes off) should be a showcase for eye-catching pugilistic adroitness, as both men are amongst the more technically proficient boxers of the past 3 decades.
.
Parque das Nações,
Wednesday, July 24th, 2022,
.
Text: Ronald William Miller
Image: All rights reserved.
.
.
Neither man has a belt, but they have big fan followings (or at least, Joshua does), and nowhere can they make more money than fighting each other. In light of Wilder’s “Nuclear” right hand, and Joshua’s less than robust jaw line, that would be a (very) perilous assignment for A.J. But Wilder is very technically incompetent and can (and has been) outboxed. Question remains if Joshua is skilled enough to outclass Wilder like he wisely outplayed Andy Ruiz Jr. in late 2019? It would be one hell of a gamble by promoter Eddie Hearn. But the money involved may just prove too appetizing.
.
Being a good promoter involves quite a bit of creativity and marketing (and media) savvy. And whenever one of Eddie Hearn‘s fighters loses, he claims the opponent was the “Pound for Pound” #1. So, on this year alone, by his reckoning, Dmitry Bivol is P4P #1 after beating Canelo Álvarez, and so is Oleksandr Usyk after defeating Joshua. I fearfully forebode that if Chris Eubank Jr. overcomes Conor Benn in early October, I suspect that in Eddie ” John’s “high-flying” mind, Eubank will also be rated as a top P4Pounder…
.
Usyk won by split decision ( judge Glenn Feldman bizarrely judged Joshua the winner ) but to these eyeballs of mine, that was pure unadulterated “poppycock“, as I had the Ukrainian winning by 3 or 4 points as he swept all 3 Championship rounds.
.
Unaffectedly the Boxing world now naturally clamors for Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury for all the marbles/belts. And much like one year ago I felt that Joshua was too big for the then unremarkable (at heavyweight) Usyk, I now also feel that Fury is too gargantuan (an apt choice of wordmanship…) a “commission” for the Crimean.
.
But this time, I have seen Usyk handle a man 20 pounds more massive. Tyson is… 50 pounds larger than Usyk and far more skilled than Joshua, and eyeing up the size difference, I cannot in all consciousness pick Usyk to emerge victorious, but it would not amaze me if it goes the full 12 round distance.
.
One thing is for certain, for anybody that is appreciative of the finer points of Boxing, that fight (if it comes off) should be a showcase for eye-catching pugilistic adroitness, as both men are amongst the more technically proficient boxers of the past 3 decades.
.
Parque das Nações,
Wednesday, July 24th, 2022,
.
Text: Ronald William Miller
Image: All rights reserved.
.
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