Anthony Joshua needs to be the old wrecking ball that he once was when he takes on the upset-minded Otto Wallin this Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The old bum-rushing AJ has gone missing in action, and he needs to bring it back if he doesn’t want the hungry wolf-like Wallin to wear him and send what’s left of his career into oblivion.
What made Joshua successful during his best years was the way he would trample his opponents but flurrying on them, but he’s lost his way and looks afraid to let his shots go.
The former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua (26-3, 23 KOs) seems to have been brainwashed into thinking that he needs to be more technical, and he’s gotten away with what brought him success earlier in his career and in the amateur ranks when he was steamrolling his opponents early with furious assaults.
Joshua looked almost sad today like he was attending a wake rather than a fighter headlining one of the best cards in the history of the sport. He did not look like a happy camper ahead of his twelve round bout against Wallin.
Unfortunately, Joshua might be too heavy for him to take the chance of jumping on the big 6’5″ Wallin (26-1, 14 KOs) from the opening bell in their headliner on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
The 34-year-old Joshua weighed in at 251 lbs and looked like he was carrying too much muscle for him to fight hard without gassing out.
Can AJ bring the wrecking ball back?
“He’s desperately seeking something. I’m hearing very good things about the relationship between Anthony Joshua and Ben Davison. I could see them jelling, I could see them working a lot together,” said Gareth A. Davies to talkSPORT Boxing, talking about Joshua’s new trainer, who will guide his sinking ship against Otto Wallin this Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Joshua has looked very good in camp. This is a fight that he should win, he can win. He’s got to impose himself, and he’s got to compose himself as well. He wants to get better as a technical boxer.”
AJ on his fourth trainer in the last seven years, and he seems to think he will eventually find someone who can fix his problems in the ring. The truth is, he’s wasted time and would have better off sticking with his original coach because he’s gotten worse instead of better.
“He’s better technically than he was, but we all want the wrecking ball fighter back. That’s the problem. We want the guy that goes out and destroys. If he can find the combination of both against Otto Wallin, he’ll have done very well.
“Wallin has decent in the heavyweight division, a decent contender. Only that loss to Tyson Fury, which made his name. It was 47 stitches for Fury. I think we need to see something significant from Joshua, and I think he will do it.”
Wallin has been chosen because he’s weak & slow, but what he does possess is cardio, size & ring IQ that could be enough to ruin this mentally confused version of AJ, who will likely make the mistake of trying to outbox him on Saturday night.
Joshua won’t rely on his power game because he sees himself as a technical fighter, which he can never be. It’s too late in the game for Joshua to remake his fighting style in the mid-30s.
Combination punching missing
“I think he’s got to go out and throw some combinations and open himself up a little. Just believe in himself. That’s the key. If he can believe in himself, believe in his ability. We always find ourselves saying this about Anthony.
“It’s not a criticism to say that he needs to believe in himself. It’s an observation. We want to see him succeed so badly because we want to see these mega-fights. We want to see him involved in the Deontay Wilder and the Tyson Fury fight. We all want to see it,” said Gareth.
“One credit we do have to give AJ this year is this is his third fight in nine months, which is very rare for the top table of boxing for someone to be that busy,” said Ade Oladipo. “We’re used to seeing AJ fight, not even twice a year. For him to fight in nine months is a good thing.”
