As world ranked British heavyweight Anthony Joshua laboured and poked his cautious jab through the six completed rounds to find his way to defeat Finland’s Robert Helenius, (who’d taken the fight on six days notice), you couldn’t help thinking whether Joshua (26-3, 23 KO’s) still had enough to recapture past glories.
He has previously been an elite fighter as the 2012 Olympic super-heavyweight champion and two-time holder of world heavyweight sanctioning body titles. Now at age 33, definitely young for a heavyweight, has he still got it ?
The seventh round knockout of Helenius (on 1:27 secs) from a right hook was indeed spectacular, but it followed low action and a tentative approach from the Brit that resulted in a capacity London O2 Arena crowd sporadically booing the lack of action from the second round. Most likely a result of Joshua’s caution and an expectation of an early explosive knockout.
In a ‘damned if I do, or damned if I don’t’ contest, that Joshua got the job done with the minimum of fuss, is to his credit. It sets him up ‘contender-wise’ to a lucrative payday in the Middle East early in 2024 against former WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KO’s) who’d previously blown away Helenius (now 32-5, 21 KO’s) inside the opening round.
The odds will be heavily stacked against Joshua defeating the big punching American, but hey this is heavyweight boxing !
During Saturday’s proceedings you also couldn’t help thinking how Joshua would have fared against some top British heavyweights of yesteryear. Would he have beaten the often derided, for lack of punch resistance, but still former WBC champion Frank Bruno (40-5, 38 KO’s). And, would he have stood a chance against former and ironically the last undisputed world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KO’s) ? A resounding ‘No’ by most observers and experts.
On the evidence from the O2 Arena Saturday, both these former champions would have beaten Joshua. Lewis almost certainly, and Bruno likely too by knockout. Bruno; from Wandsworth, south London, certainly knew how to punch, and you wouldn’t have seen him delay a knockout of Helenius, as Joshua did.
Bruno would have likely blown the Finn out inside three rounds. One recalls his first professional contest in the USA against Mike Jameson in July 1983, and his 1:50 sec blow out victory over former WBA world heavyweight champion Gerrie Coetzee in March 1986 to earn his first of three world title shots.
Whilst it is convenient and good banter to compare boxers from different eras, it was a thought that sprung to my mind as I watched Joshua poke and probe his way in, always erring on the side of caution.
The shout for Joshua to return to his all out attack and destructive best is getting louder fight by fight, but, I fear we may have witnessed it’s final demise. In our view he has become a cerebral fighter with a safety first approach and, it will take much more than this to make a dent in Wilder, who sure can punch.
The fight will be big bucks, by virtue of being held in the desert and both boxers will undoubtedly add many more noughts to their already bloated bank balances. It will be hyped to the hilt, likely broadcast pay-per-view and watched by millions when it eventually takes place. But, whoever is victorious, will not really add much to their legacies or the annals of the Heavyweight Championship of the World.
We all know there are two other elite heavyweights out there in Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KO’s) and Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 23 KO’s) who are a notch above Joshua and Wilder and, until they meet, the real title of Heavyweight Champion of the World will be vacant.
I would dearly like to see, and importantly, believe it is possible, that Joshua can be victorious against Wilder, but a reset to his street fighting mentality is his only real route to victory. His support team, I hope, will finally accept this in preparing him for this and any future challenges. Whilst his record to date has to be admired, he will forever be defined by his next two contests.
We hope he rises to this.
The Undisputed 