His mind seemed clear. Despite being knocked down in the first, third, and fourth rounds and receiving constant punishment from real punchers like Daniel Dubois, Anthony Joshua — smiling, nodding, beckoning — seemed to have a wit about him. But he has no legs under him. The leader is willing and possibly able. The body is not cooperating.
This runs counter to the divide between strengths and flaws that defined much of Joshua’s career.
His physique made him a betting favorite over every opponent he ever fought. At least it was his first time fighting them. (The only time he was the underdog was in the rematch with Oleksandr Usyk after we Clear evidence 12 rounds (To back up that bargain), one look at Joshua suggests that this is the man who boxed in and out of 2020. At 6’6″ and around 240-250 pounds of chiseled muscle, Joshua is a prototype in the lab. Behind Lennox Lewis coming to life And he has all the physical tools for this line of work. both long and hard thrusts Knockout power in both punches His athleticism and reflexes are impressive for a man his size.
But things that were annoying from the neck up put him off. His confidence was never the same after his suffering. Knockdown with Wladimir Klitschko (Though he did collect a victory that night.) He wasn’t sure if in a fight he wanted to be a boxer or a destroyer. He changed trainers over and over and was left with too many bickering cooks in his mental kitchen. He was too tense in the ring and as a result, he couldn’t breathe early in the fight, having difficulty breathing or feeling heavy in his legs.
Of course everything is connected. Tension turned into fatigue. Mental stress flows out into physical stress. and vice versa Not that half of the equation would be disappointing AJ at any given moment. The truth is Too often he is worth less than the sum of his parts.
It looked like that after the worst defeat of his career against Dubois – a four-time knockdown. Pure knockout Did it and dusted it off for a minute in the fifth round – books have been written about Joshua. He might go down as a good person. a lot Good guy, but not the all-time great heavyweight. It is someone who makes unlimited promises but has proven to be very unpredictable and inconsistent. And in the end it was a little disappointing.
And that made him the avatar of this era of heavyweight boxing.
We can define the era from November 28, 2015, the day Tyson Fury ended Klitschko’s nearly decade-long reign, to possibly this coming December 21, when Usyk and Fury are scheduled to rematch. There is more to come. But it is expected that it will be a bookmark.
It was a great heavyweight era. Of course it was running around. Klitschko brothers era Before that: two Hall of Famers who were largely out of competition and generating little enthusiasm outside of Europe. This era of Fury, Usyk, Joshua, Deontay Wilder et al can be called the Fury era. a lot Good era, but that’s as far as you can go. It’s not the greatest era of all time, it’s not the ’90s, and it certainly isn’t the ’70s.
As fans, we’ve undoubtedly gotten a lot of excitement out of this, with the third Fury-Wilder fight being one of the most iconic fights in heavyweight history. Joshua-Klitschko Memorably, Usyk-Fury were not far behind. The Fury-Wilder draw was a classic finish. The Wilder-Luis Ortiz fight was both fun. Andy Ruiz’s dissatisfaction with Joshua is dull. And there’s been a lot of weird stuff at lower levels, from Alexander Povetkin-Dillian Whyte in the bubble to the Derek Chisora-Joe Joyce war.
It was a heck of a ride. The heavyweights have recaptured much of the magic lost when one Klitschko or another was pondering and dominating.
But like AJ’s career at heavyweight over the years, things didn’t quite go according to plan. And like AJ’s career, it might be so much more than that.
What’s most notable on that “likely” front is that we’ve never seen Fury vs. Joshua or Joshua vs. Wilder. Maybe one or both will still happen. But it doesn’t mean much anymore. One of those battles was for inheritance and supremacy. It has now become a battle for money and personal pride. And it is doubtful that one or the other will happen next.
Any one of these events at the right time could be the biggest mainstream heavyweight crossover event since Lewis vs. Mike Tyson, but the right time comes and goes.
more than disappointment AJ’s parallel instability and the change in division hierarchy really stands out.
Every time Joshua makes the boxing world believe. Every time he seemed to put it all together. It calmed down. He was the king of the sport in 2019 when he was eliminated late in the match and an 11-1 underdog knocked Ruiz down according to script in the third round. Then suddenly stumbled and collapsed. He avenged his loss. (in an uninspiring way) and two years later are three-to-one favorites to beat the seemingly diminutive Usyk. But we know how that – and the rematch – went. Joshua built it again. He won four matches in a row. Each win was better than the last. He is favored over Dubois four to one. But the underdogs fearlessly moved forward. And in the middle of the first round Smart money flows in one direction.
In the past nine years The overall divide reflected the sentiment that “When you think you have the answer. I changed the question.” Fury rose to the top in late 2015 and disappeared for the next 30 months. He then elevated himself to become the all-time great topic of conversation in the heavyweight division. and squealed by an MMA fighter in his professional boxing debut. and was slapped in the face by the former cruiserweight champion. Ruiz had one great moment and devoured himself to the point of conflict. Wilder’s story is one of unfathomable ascent. Considering the slow start and pitiful technique, and rapid descent No one’s bingo card included Joseph Parker’s resurgence last year, or Joyce stopping Dubois but being stopped twice by Zhilei Zhang.
Even Wladimir Klitschko’s role in passing the torch into a new era defies convention. His loss to Joshua was so spectacular that it made boxing fans pity non-boxing fans, and his loss to Fury was so terrifying that it made boxing fans pity themselves.
Back to Joshua and his legacy: I insisted on this on my podcast about a year ago. Before the Otto Wallin fight that AJ wasn’t a Hall of Famer, an assertion that was met with huge denial from our listeners. It felt like a cold snap as he enjoyed a resurgence in crushing Wallin and Francis Ngannou, and so did a few days ago. I’m ready to admit I was wrong. He’s definitely a Hall of Famer.
But now, after one disastrous loss to Dubois, he’s back without my vote. (provided that his career is not over And I can’t predict how weakly he’ll end up on the Hall of Fame ballot.)
What happened to Dubois frames his entire post-Usyk comeback. Is it fair that we retrospectively question the results we once celebrated? No, but it is what we did. If you listen to podcasts or read social media late Saturday and Sunday nights, You hear/see some variations on this: Jermaine Franklin was some kind of loner. (And Joshua couldn’t get him out of there!), Robert Helenius was wiped out (and it took Joshua seven rounds to get him out of there!) Wallin was ordered in style. And Ngannou is exactly who we thought he was before Fury created the fiction that the former UFC star could box.
The truth is that Joshua will may Either way, he must be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Because that’s what happens when you’re on the borderline and fighting in the heavyweight division. If you took the resumes of Riddick Bowe, Ingemar Johansson, Michael Moorer, James J. Braddock, Luis Firpo, or Jess Willard and replaced the words Even “Heavyweight”, like “Lightweight”, doesn’t exist in Canastota. Even Ken Norton wouldn’t be happy if you moved his records to another division.
So yes, Joshua — especially if you factor in the “reputation” quotient — will likely be inducted someday. It was much harder to feel good after Dubois hurt him.
However, Dubois fits perfectly into the unpredictable era of heavyweight. He is the heir apparent. Then he unexpectedly lost to Joyce. and was nearly stopped in the first round by Kevin Lerena, and it started to feel like the only heir he had was David Price’s legacy. Then he succumbed to Usyk and most of us turned away. he
That was just 13 months ago. Dubois has had it since — in the span of nine months! — Give Jarrell Miller his first loss, do the same to Filip Hrgovic and flatten AJ.
Good luck finding a heavyweight in the post-Klitschko era.
The curtain may close with time. Depending on what happens three months from now in the Usyk-Fury rematch, if Usyk wins again, there is a real chance he will retire. With no mountains left to climb That could signal the end of Fury, at least as an elite force. Wilder is finished. Whether he knows or not Joshua may not have another rebuild in him at age 34, and even if he does, It would be the most shocking thing if he suddenly developed a resistance to punches to return to the top.
Ruiz, Ortiz, Whyte, Chisora, Joyce, Zhang — they’re all 35+ and near the finish line. An era is coming to an end — if not on December 21st, then certainly soon after.
And when it was over…I never thought a year ago or even last week I would actually say this. But the next era may belong to Dubois.
Still only 27 years old, his amateur career didn’t last long. and has only fought 95 rounds in his career, but he is not an inexperienced person. He has developed the necessary callouses by facing adversity and messing around with the likes of Usyk and Joshua.
Welcome to the Daniel Dubois era of heavyweight boxing?
Maybe. Just keep those expectations in check. And I hope you don’t find yourself ripping those expectations off the canvas any time soon.
Eric Raskin is a boxing journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering the sport for outlets including BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, Ringside Seat and The Ring (where he was managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosts The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has received three top writing awards from the BWAA for his work with The Ring, Grantland and Outside of HBO boxing, he is the senior editor of Casino Report and author 2014 money making effect– He can be contacted. X or Linkedinor via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com
