Former two-division world champion Michael Moorer says Anthony Joshua lacks the “dog” in him for tonight’s fight against Francis Ngannou at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Overthinking and Underperforming
Moorer feels that the former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) tries too hard to be perfect with his hands and punches. What this means is Joshua is thinking too much, and not doing things naturally.
If one could put Moorer’s brain from his best years inside Joshua’s body, he could be so much better than he is today and would have a better chance of dominating the division.
One reason for this is the fact that he keeps swapping out trainers, putting him in a position of learning an entirely new system of fighting. If he had just stuck with his original trainer, he probably could have avoided all this. He’s currently trained by Ben Davison, and still looks mechanical, like he’s thinking before throwing shots.
The Need for Aggression
“I’m a fan of Anthony Joshua, but Anthony Joshua doesn’t have that dog in him. ‘I’m going in there and f**** somebody up, period,'” said Michael Moorer to Fighthype, talking about what has kept Anthony Joshua from being a great heavyweight.
Unfortunately, AJ doesn’t possess the killer instinct required to be the fighter he needs to be to dominate, which could lead to problems tonight against Ngannou.
Obviously, if the 34-year-old Joshua hasn’t found the “dog” in him after 11 years as a professional, he’s not likely to suddenly find it tonight when he goes up against the former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou (0-1).
“It seems like to me that he wants everything to be perfect with his hands, his body, throwing the punches right, and he doesn’t take chances. He doesn’t take risks, he doesn’t go for the risk,” Moorer continued with his critique of Joshua.
“Ngannou knows how to use his weight. It’s going to be a good fight. Ngannou got hit on the chin by Tyson Fury and didn’t budge.”
If Joshua is deliberate tonight, he could get taken out by Ngannou, and his career will be in the mud. Predictably, Joshua will fire Ben Davison, and look for another coach that he believes can fix him.
