GUEST COLUMN
Why the two current leading heavyweights need to get it on
Why Joshua and Wilder must get it on
BIG fights are often built on what we don’t know and are desperate to find out – the questions. With the potential superfight between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder, to me the intrigue is the fact that we already have two of the most significant answers. Namely, that Joshua can hurt Wilder and Wilder can hurt Joshua. I believe that if Joshua had Wilder going in the way that Luis Ortiz did, then he would have finished the argument. I also think that if the American landed one of those ungainly, looping blows cleanly, then his British counterpart would be in serious trouble.
Wilder has yet to meet a fighter that he couldn’t stop, Joshua likewise. Inevitably, the opposition selected to build two formidable-looking records has been questioned. However, by the time that they do meet, assuming that greed, politics and ego don’t keep them apart, their records will probably be beyond reproach. I’m assuming that Joshua will need to beat Joseph Parker on March 31 to qualify, which I don’t believe is a foregone conclusion. If so, then the champions from each side of the Atlantic will have shown that they are 100 per cent legitimate.
When you judge a fighter, you do so on their results and by what you see. I think we’ve all learned that Wilder is better than he initially appears. I struggle to think of anyone that I rate as highly as “The Bronze Bomber” who also looks as raw when letting their hands go. Wilder is a winner, a natural puncher with great instincts and we now know, for sure, that he’ll take some serious beating.
In contrast to his rival, Joshua holds his form very well. If you took a photo of any moment of any of his fights he’d probably be in the correct position, with his guard up and well balanced. I certainly wouldn’t question Joshua’s punch resistance, mettle or fitness, but he does seem to be built of the type of explosive muscle fibre that screams out for oxygen after a burst of destructive blows. The key is to relax the shoulders, breathe and pace yourself, all easier said than done when you’re in the most dangerous battle of your career. We all remember the body-beautiful Frank Bruno fading against the loose but soft-looking Tim Witherspoon.
The rumours are that Joshua plans to come in lighter for Parker, which should help. I think that is very sensible because the New Zealander is far from musclebound, he lets his hands go and then seems ready to go again.
It’s sometimes hard for me to judge what the wider public are thinking because my interactions, at work and on social media, are generally with boxing people. It seems to me that everyone is talking about Joshua and Wilder now. That’s great, but like I say, no one can look past Parker, who some people were absolutely raving about when he was blowing opposition away and are now sleeping on because he’s actually had some proper learning tests.
The other piece of the jigsaw is Tyson Fury, although the division has moved on without him. I think this past Saturday was the tipping point. Now it’s Wilder that Joshua will be asked about in every single interview, not Fury. It’s great that Tyson’s back in the gym and seems in a decent place. Now he simply must get active again. When Joshua faces Parker, Wilder will be ringside in Cardiff to challenge the victor. Hopefully, if the winner of that one then faces Wilder, later this year or early in 2019, Fury will be ready to jump in the ring and do the same.
No one is saying that this is a Muhammad Ali-joe Frazier-type time for the heavyweight division, but, likewise, Riddick Bowe never faced Lennox Lewis as a pro, and the Mike Tyson that Lewis faced was a faded, if still dangerous, force. It’s wrong to judge yet just how good Joshua and Wilder are in a historical context, but putting the two together makes for an amazing clash fit for any era.