Anthony Joshua Turns PRO

Dick phelan

Singed with Matchroom, so much hype around the guy i suppose sky havent mentioned how Joshua won his gold medal because of two gift decisions in the games, Another Audley Harrison i think dont rate him to high was lucky in the amateurs to win what he has, they will hype the hell out of him and make him out to be the new lennox, but guarntee the chances he will do what Lewis did are very slim, Hughie Fury is the biggest heavyweight prospect in the UK not Joshua

Big Ears

Have to agree, he might turn out to be decent. I mean he is young for a Heavyweight and has plenty of time to develop, but the Cuban clearly beat him in the Olympics (it was a robbery plain and simple) and imo Cammarelle should have got the decision over him aswell.

I'm not a fan of amateurs getting the star treatment before they've achieved anything, especially if they're being matched as slow as a normal pro is. Joshua headlining like Campbell did may be great for ticket sells but doesn't sit well with the hardcore fans.....not that Eddie Hearn will care.

Last time we had a debutant headlining when a fighter who's won numerous world title eliminators and is highly ranked (Kell Brook) was on his undercard, as well as one of the strongest British & Commonwealth champions out there who was taking a step up in class (Lee Selby), and a former world ranked British champion fighting for the Commonwealth title (Derry Matthews).

This time Selby has to play undercard to a debutant again,and former World title challenger Kevin Mitchell and former Commonwealth champion and previously World ranked fighter John O'Donnell aswell. Mitchell's opponent Gary Sykes is the reigning English champion and a former British champion himself, and all of them playing second fiddle to a man who's accomplished nothing in the professional game, he's not even had an WSB fights which could justify this somewhat !

Hughie Fury is indeed a better prospect imo, much less robotic and much smoother.

Dick phelan

Big Ears wrote: »

Have to agree, he might turn out to be decent. I mean he is young for a Heavyweight and has plenty of time to develop, but the Cuban clearly beat him in the Olympics (it was a robbery plain and simple) and imo Cammarelle should have got the decision over him aswell.

I'm not a fan of amateurs getting the star treatment before they've achieved anything, especially if they're being matched as slow as a normal pro is. Joshua headlining like Campbell did may be great for ticket sells but doesn't sit well with the hardcore fans.....not that Eddie Hearn will care.

Last time we had a debutant headlining when a fighter who's won numerous world title eliminators and is highly ranked (Kell Brook) was on his undercard, as well as one of the strongest British & Commonwealth champions out there who was taking a step up in class (Lee Selby), and a former world ranked British champion fighting for the Commonwealth title (Derry Matthews).

This time Selby has to play undercard to a debutant again,and former World title challenger Kevin Mitchell and former Commonwealth champion and previously World ranked fighter John O'Donnell aswell. Mitchell's opponent Gary Sykes is the reigning English champion and a former British champion himself, and all of them playing second fiddle to a man who's accomplished nothing in the professional game, he's not even had an WSB fights which could justify this somewhat !

Hughie Fury is indeed a better prospect imo, much less robotic and much smoother.

Puts a lot of pressure on the lad being main event on his debut, hyping him up so much puts such expectation and pressure on the guy, he needs to be developed like any other pro slow and steady, also hope it doesnt go to his head like it seemed to with Audley,

Big Ears

Dick phelan wrote: »

Puts a lot of pressure on the lad being main event on his debut, hyping him up so much puts such expectation and pressure on the guy, he needs to be developed like any other pro slow and steady, also hope it doesnt go to his head like it seemed to with Audley,

As much as it'll help matchroom shift tickets and get viewing figures it creates it's own problem. Ideally you want young pros who were very good amateurs getting about 8 fights in a year or more, like what they've done with Khalid Yafai, Scott Cardle, Callum Smith and Tom Stalker.
However when you make a young pro the headliner that creates a problem. Eddie's only got 20 televised live shows this year, and putting them as a headliner for one bout likely means they'll have to either headline again or be very high up an event. Matchroom aren't all of a sudden going to throw them to the bottom of an undercard or have them fighting on other promoters cards off tv......so where are they going to get their 8+ fights ?, they're likely not.

Or on the otherhand if they actually do, fighters higher up the ladder will get pushed out. That'll mean fighters at British/Commonwealth/European level unable to get the bigger fights, unable to get exposure to pick up a bigger fanbase and inevitably unable to progress. Some may even defect to Warren.
You then have a situation where these young amateur stars have to perform in order for matchroom boxing to be a success, because if they fail, while match room might have plenty of other fighters, they won't have that many other stars bar their Word champions.
It'll likely mean that the likes of Lee Selby will have to travel for their World title shot when (if they ever) get there. But I'm sure matchroom know what they're at, and have foresight to ensure things go sweet.

peejay1986

Met the guy during the Olympics and had about a 10 min chat with him. Such a nice guy and took time to have some craic with us on what was clearly a day off. That aside (means nothing for his boxing career) I have to agree, he was hugely fortunate to come out of the Olympics with the gold. Anywhere else and he wouldn't have got the decision.

Looking at him he's got the raw attributes to be a force, but he needs to massively step up. Was difficult to judge any sort of 'style' while he was an amateur. I know that's common in the amateur game due to the scoring but still, it's hard to know what type of pro boxer he'll turn out to be.

The Campbell card was an absolute joke. How people paid to see that I'll never know. Sure, the undercard had some decent names but to parade these young professional boxers as headliners is incredibly risky for both the boxers and the promoter.

megadodge

I think ye're being quite harsh on Joshua here.

There are some things that need remembering when assessing his potential.
His World Championship silver medal in 2011 was nothing short of sensational. Having earlier stopped Cammarelle he made it to the final completely on merit (nothing to do with "luck") and had a cracker of a fight with the heavily supported and hard-hitting local Azerbijani, barely losing (2 points?). The one thing that struck me in that fight was even though he was rattled a few times, each time he immediately came back with his own punches, showing genuine 'fight', the sort of thing David Price or Audley Harrison have never shown amateur or pro. And all of this from a guy who was only boxing for aprox. THREE YEARS!!! That's an amazing rate of progress.

Unfortunately I haven't seen his bout in the Olympics with the Cuban, but I think when every single person I've spoke to who did see it reckoned Joshua lost, I'll accept that. I also thought he was lucky in the final against Cammarelle. Having said that, I thought right throughout the Olympics that he didn't perform to the level that he did in the Worlds. I'm presuming this had a lot to do with the level of expectation on him, whereas he was completely unknown in Azerbijan and came in somewhat under the radar with no pressure whatsoever, in London there was a lot of talk of 'the new Lennox Lewis' etc. beforehand. This can affect the mindset of a very inexperienced competitor. Of course, being a gold medallist he's going to have even more expectation and pressure than ever now, but I think as he matures and gets more experience he'll surely learn to cope better. I certainly don't see any obvious character flaws that have been so evident with the aforementioned duo.

I think, despite his achievements, he is actually a work in progress and considering how quickly he has progressed so far, with the right trainer and preparation this guy can go far.

megadodge

With regard to him being 'robotic', the exact same term has been used to criticise both Klitchkos right throughout both their very, very successful careers.

bk2101

megadodge wrote: »

Having earlier stopped Cammarelle he made it to the final completely on merit (nothing to do with "luck") and had a cracker of a fight with the heavily supported and hard-hitting local Azerbijani, barely losing (2 points?).

He didn't stop Camarelle at the Worlds, he beat him by two points

megadodge

bk2101 wrote: »

He didn't stop Camarelle at the Worlds, he beat him by two points

You're correct. I got mixed up with the German he stopped in the semis.

couerdelion

So 3 fights into his career what's the opinion?

For me he's looking promising and shows some good attacking flair. Not really being tested defensively. Easily beat a boxer who went the distance just a few weeks ago with Hughie Fury. 2 more fights in the next 30 days.

I wish the Sky commentators weren't so full of praise.

megadodge

I know it's very, very early in his career, but the signs are really good IMO.
Good shot selection, impressive balance, serious power and a refreshing 'I'm still learning' attitude.
Have to say from what I've seen of Hughie Fury, I rate Joshua as a better prospect.

HigginsJ

Very impressed so far (even allowing for the opposition) Looks to have very good hand speed & power. I know it's no indicator of anything but my god he looks like he is cut from a slab of granite.

Tobyglen

megadodge wrote: »

I know it's very, very early in his career, but the signs are really good IMO.
Good shot selection, impressive balance, serious power and a refreshing 'I'm still learning' attitude.
Have to say from what I've seen of Hughie Fury, I rate Joshua as a better prospect.

Hughie's only 19, Joshua is 5 years older. Pretty astonishing that a 19 year can make an impression at such a young age in the HW division.

walshb

The first test comes when Joshua gets hit solid and hard in the face!

walshb

I kind of agree with Larry Holmes about rushing him into fights so soon after a fight ends. I know the other night was short work, but still, no need to take advantage.

rebelomar

walshb wrote: »

I kind of agree with Larry Holmes about rushing him into fights so soon after a fight ends. I know the other night was short work, but still, no need to take advantage.

I agree.

He'd be better off fighting once a month...getting decent sparring and learning from that.

While he's paying his dues at the moment knocking out tin cans he can't be learning anything from it??

megadodge

walshb wrote: »

The first test comes when Joshua gets hit solid and hard in the face!

Did you see his world final against the Azerbaijani?
The same Azerbaijani who just won the worlds again a few weeks ago with a spectacular KO and is a renowned power puncher.
Joshua was hit very hard and hurt more than once, but the thing that made me think that this fella had more than your average hyped heavy was that each time he was stunned he immediately hit back and showed tremendous 'fight' and courage and a complete lack of caution that you usually see in a fighter that has felt serious power by his opponent. This fella is no Audley. He has guts to burn.

And yet again let me remind you all that this fella is only boxing six years. The rate of progress he has made is spectacular.

walshb

megadodge wrote: »

Did you see his world final against the Azerbaijani?
The same Azerbaijani who just won the worlds again a few weeks ago with a spectacular KO and is a renowned power puncher.
Joshua was hit very hard and hurt more than once, but the thing that made me think that this fella had more than your average hyped heavy was that each time he was stunned he immediately hit back and showed tremendous 'fight' and courage and a complete lack of caution that you usually see in a fighter that has felt serious power by his opponent. This fella is no Audley. He has guts to burn.

And yet again let me remind you all that this fella is only boxing six years. The rate of progress he has made is spectacular.

I thought that fight was very good vs. the Azerbajani. Still want to see how he reacts when hit in the pro game with no headger and entering territory he's never been in, past 3 rds.

walshb

pac_man wrote: »

Anyone else think that someone like an Oleksandr Usyk(if he moved up) or someone with half decent footwork would do the same?

It's the pro game. Amateurs get stopped a lot earlier. That clip actually showed that Joshua absorbs a good shot. Lucid, upright and with it even after the shots.