ALL BARK AND NO BITE – ANTHONY JOSHUA

Anthony Joshua ‘s  snatched the British title from Dillian Whyte  on Saturday with an explosive knockout after a gruelling fight at the 02 arena. Whyte, who had drummed up remarkable interest in the clash with his disparaging comments in the build up to the fight, eventually could not live up to his all his big talk. However, he gave a very good account of himself, as predicted in our preview of the fight.

Written off from the outset as having very little chance, the former British champion overcame a troublesome storm in the opening round and engaged the highly prized   Joshua in a battle that revealed more about the highly rated prospect than was previously apparent. The quick, scintillating and enthralling fashion in which Joshua had disposed of all his other rivals  could not be replicated  in this fight, yet he showed tremendous quality in getting the job done. We also got to learn that he was not remarkably fit, though very purposeful and efficient in his execution. Some shortcomings were apparent in his arsenal but not enough to derail his ambitions on this important night.

SPECIMEN

Joshua’s is a beautiful specimen with fire power in his hands, but the type of success he or any highly rated fighter enjoys  will necessarily vary with the gradation of opposition faced. Whyte was game, durable, and resilient with high ambitions of his own. His limitations were nevertheless laid bare. The previously unbeaten brixton heavyweight gave Joshua a war and in so doing salvaged some respect even in defeat.  Once he got his rhythm going, he demonstrated  a tough heart  allied to a series of good boxing techniques and a reasonably tight defense.

That defense was periodically penetrated by the skilled former Olympian who was intent on making his opponent pay for the very condescending spirit displayed towards him by a man who had once defeated him in the amateurs. Six years more mature and at least a million pounds more equipped, Britain’s golden hope indicated all along that he had blossomed into a more mature and rounded fighter than the amateur novice of 2009 who was floored and beaten by Dillian.  He proved that on Saturday, though refused to give respect to his tough opponent, presumably because of all the insults he had endured from him.

ARMOUR
Nevertheless, chinks in his armour were laid bare in this episodic fight in which the pendulum swung one way to the other at different stages of the fight. In fact Joshua looked beatable, and the farfetched scenario of Joshua being defeated by Dillan in the minds of many of the boxing scribes before the fight was beginning to look conceivable as the fight went on. And Joshua deserves so much credit for ensuring the victory which his opponent so valiantly tried to secure. The revenge was sweet for Joshua who stuck out his tongue to tease his opponent  in the first round as he nearly obliterated and humiliated Dillian before the latter managed to absorb those heavy punches. Brutally dumped by the ropes by a  hammer  of a punch, the show was closed  and the battle won.

Anthony Joshua admits he took satisfaction from ‘humbling’ Dillian Whyte at the O2 on Saturday night – but insists he is in no rush to mix it with the big boys of the heavyweight division.

TOUGH

“It was a tough title to get hold of. There were times when I hurt him and there were time when he hurt me. There was that commotion in the first round and I finally dug deep enough to get him out of there with a good KO. The bonus of all the trash talking, the bragging rights was the British title that was the cherry on top. I’m over the moon now and can look forward to the European level.

“I felt that I could get him out of there in the first round and I thought that again in the second and stepped up the gas. Then as I’m putting on pressure, he has countered with a sweet left hook and I’ve lost my balance and then he thinks ‘I’ve got him’ but I regrouped myself.

“In round seven, I caught him with a nice sweet overhand hook built on that and then I whipped a sweet uppercut that lifted him off his feet. That’s what I take pleasure in, I like to give people punishment. He couldn’t even stand up any more.”, insisting he would be happy to follow Tyson Fury’s path to the top.

He said: “I can take a lot away from that fight but there is still a lot to work on. I could do better but there were things I learnt from last night that I didn’t get from my previous 14 opponents.

“I could fight Haye, I could fight Fury, but you can’t just come into professional boxing and think you are going to blitz everybody. The likes of Chisora, he’s still been a pro for a long time but I still need to be fighting people as the man primed for great things in the division.