GLASS JAW!
Arum: Joshua is a flawed fighter and very chinny.. Pulev will knock him out
ANTHONY JOSHUA has been branded “flawed” and “chinny” by Kubrat Pulev’s promoter Bob Arum.
Ar u m h a s d i s mi s s e d Joshua and feels the WBA S u p e r , I B F a n d WB O heavyweight champion lacks confidence because of his shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr in June 2019.
The Top Rank chief feels his man Pulev can expose Joshua’s suspect chin and knock him out tomorrow.
“I think Joshua is a f lawed f ighter,” Arum told Mirror Sport. “The fact i s he got knocked out by Andy Ruiz, who i s not a big knockout g u y, a n d t h e n i n t h e rematch, he beat Ruiz by outboxing him.
“But Ruiz was in no kind of shape. He was obese, didn’t train, he had celebrated too much. And yet Joshua didn’t go after him to knock him out to avenge that defeat. That indicates to m e t h a t Joshua i s real l y l a ckin g confidence. “Pulev is
b i g strong guy – a no- nonsense guy – and he’s going to go after Joshua and I believe he will knock him out.
“He’s not a Deo n t a y Wi l d e r with a one- punch knockout, but he i s a big, strong, physical guy, and I b e l i e v e J o s h u a ’ s c h i n i s suspect.
“L o o k at a lot of
Joshua’s fights, look at the Wladimir Klitschko one. That wasn’t a prime Klitschko, this was a Klitschko at the end of his career and he almost had Joshua out of there.
“You look at a lot of Joshua’s f ights and he i s ver y, ver y chinny. I think that if Pulev rocks him and exposes that chin, he has enough strength and energy to finish the job.”
Arum ( left) believes Pulev can disappoint his star man Tyson Fury by wrecking the chances of an all- British clash f or the undisputed world heavyweight title next year.
J o s hua has a re match clause if he loses to Pulev and Arum believes Fur y could have his trilog y f ight with W i l d e r w h i l e t h a t takes place.
“If Pulev wins, it would disappoint a lot of people, including Tyson Fury, but it is what it i s,” said the Hall of Fame promoter.
“If Pule v beats Jo shua , Joshua has an absolute right to a rematch.
“Obviously, if what I think will happen happens, then maybe Tyson would revisit doing a fight with Wilder.
“That to me would make t he most sense, but t hat would be up to Tyson.”
Arum , who was 89 on Tuesday, has had to cancel plans to be ringside at the SSE Arena, Wembley, because of the coronavirus pandemic and will be cheering Pulev on from across the Atlantic.
“I ’m 89 and 89 year olds without the vaccine shouldn’t be on the plane on an 11, 12hour f light from LA to the UK,” he added.
“My heart will be there, but I will be watching the fight on TV.”
Anthony Joshua vs Kubrat Pulev is live on Sky Sports Box Office tomorrow.