BY GABRIEL PRINCEWILL
Anthony Joshua looked a million dollars in the masterful demolition of Kevin Johnson in 2 rounds at the 02 arena.
Considering Johnson had taken Vitali Klitschko the full distance, and Britain’s Tyson Fury was not able to put him away, Joshua’s victory looked all the more outstanding. Joshua’s athletic prowess combined with his explosive power makes him a very attractive proposition for dethroning Wladimir Klitschko even now. Such an assignment is however premature now, and we cannot forget that stiffer tests lie in wait. Johnson may have been resilient enough to last the full distance against the rest, but he nevertheless has struggled to produce winning results in his last 6 fights.
Whilst this fact does not detract from Joshua’s imposing victory, it still cautions us to patiently wait and see him face a legitimate test before we get carried away. Joshua’s crushing disposal of the talkative Johnson made mockery of all suggestions this contest was a test worthy of helping us assess or measure the Londoner’s abilities and prospects. His emphatic bashing affirmed his innate talents. He is probably better than our optimistic speculations of his true ability, but can we safely make projections about his future in the sport on this performance? Well, we can intuitively say he will one day be world champion. What we can’t definitively say is that he won’t be knocked out a couple of times before he gets there.
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He is so far comparing well with Lennox Lewis in stature and demolition style. He will need to keep the knockout streak steady for another five fights or so, if he is to remain as prolific a knock out artist as Lewis was at this stage of his career. At this stage, Lewis had a 99% KO ratio, Joshua has 100% KO ratio, though Lewis returned to 100% knockouts for the next 5 0r 6 fights after his 13th outing . Joshua is so far statistically fighting much better opponents than current WBC champion Deontey Wilder did at this stage of his career, and doing better than Wladimir Klitschko, who on his 13th fight took on an opponent with 18 wins and 11 losses. At 6ft 6 inches, cut as a brick, Joshua looks like a mean beast, though that intimidating specimen is nicely contrasted with his affable nature. Opponents to provide a legitimate test are in no short supply. Even here in Britain a queue has long been positioned. Chisora who has been stopped twice -by David Haye and Tyson Fury- will provide a decent examination, though it is probably predictable that Joshua will stop him even though Chisora will likely last longer than Johnson did.
Huge and equally athletic David Price would be an intriguing test. At 6ft 8 inches, and full of lean muscles, there is no question Price can bang and will pose both a huge threat as well as an intriguing match up. If Joshua is still unbeaten by the time he meets Price, the 2012 Olympic champion will probably favourite to win but this does not mean he won’t get knocked clean out. Such a fight pitting two giants with explosive power, will capture the imagination of the Brtiish public. David Price, though powerful, is also vulnerable to being sparked out, as veteran Tony Thompson exposed twice. Speaking of Thompson, he is another one who would constitute a big risk, should Joshua fight him anytime soon. Price’s career had been gathering good momentum when Thompson crashed the party twice and made nonsense of all the noise. Since the embarrassing two stoppages Price has been regrouping carefully, though successfully so far. Either of these two men would be real risky fights for Joshua, though risky fights might be his making.
The question is whether he needs such fights now, or should continue to build his confidence with a few measured risks for another few fights. His promoter, Eddie Hearn has indicated that Joshua might be knocking on the door of a World title shot in the next year, though how much of this is rhetoric and how much is fact is yet to be seen. If this is a genuine timetable Hearn holds for his man, then the big risky fights are not far away. Fights against the likes of Tyson Fury are also quite probable after Fury has been exposed or exonerated in his bid to wrest the world title from Wladimir Klitschko later this year once the pair agree a deal. By this time next year, a clash between Fury and Joshua may be due. Humble Joshua has quite a testing journey ahead of him that promises to be tasty along the way too. His journey is tougher than the one American Deontey Wilder took in becoming world champion. It is also going to be tougher than the journey undertaken by reigning world champion, Wladimir Klitschko. Already, Sky sports commentators are asking for him to meet David Price next. Joshua will face real challenges on his path to world domination in the sports premiere division- a journey that might make him the next big thing.
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