Who wins and how do they win? Will povetkin be able to take centre ring and force Joshua back the way he did to wlad, early? If so is Josh in trouble without wlad's powers of stink? Or will povetkin feel outgunned, go into a shell, look to survive like Takam, Parker? Howz it go down?
If this were the roided Povetkin who knocked out Takam, Charr and Duhaupas, I'd give him a fairly good chance of pulling off the upset. Povetkin is technically an excellent inside fighter (when he isn't a victim of a lust crime committed by wald pussy) and if he had the pop, he might hurt Joshua. However Povetkin's defense has always been poor, he is 39 years old now and based on his last fights his power has reduced back to what it was when he struggled with the likes of Huck and couldn't put Nicolai Firtha away. Also, Povetkin fought dead even against Carlos Takam before ending the matters, whereas Joshua was pitching a shutout and got criticized against the same guy. Thus, I expect Joshua to win in style and looking good in progress, since Povetkin's style should suit him well. Povetkin is durable, but I expect Joshua to gun him down.
Have we ever seen povetkin not set out to push for a KO from centre ring, early? Seems like he'd feel like that's his best chance tactically, too? Just trying to get a picture of how the early rounds look. I think they might be quite exciting
I think Joshua wins fairly easily. I’d be surprised if this goes 8 rounds. I think Joshua fucks him up. Joshua’s supposedly weak chin is overstated IMO. I think he can handle Povetkins power and I think his combination punching with power in both hands would be too much for Povetkin.
Joshua hasn't looked that good since Wlad and there is the potential for an upset here, but I think AJ catches Povetkin with something big eventually and gets the job done. Joshua needs to make a statement because as I said above, he hasn't particularly impressed of late.
I don't think AJ ko Povetkin. He was able to go the distance with Wlad, who was a more dangerous offensive fighter
Lennox Lewis would've given Anthony Joshua the Michael Grant treatment if Lennox was still around. Would've been a complete bludgeoning.
People always say this shit though -“ this legend would have embarrassed this contemporary fighter blah blah blah”. MMs are full of this shit. It’s the easy position to take because it can’t be proven and it’ll be popular with the rest of the nostalgic crew. Lewis struggled with Tucker, Bruno and Mercer and was knocked out cold by both McCall and Rahman. Joshua is better than all those guys and bigger and taller and rangier. Not saying Joshua wins but fuck all this childish, safe and simplistic “legend blows away contemporary fighter” bullshit and come up with a proper analysis
Current odds of 3/1 for an AJ points win which looks decent odds. You can envisage Joshua playing it safe to not screw up his chances of facing Wilder/Fury next year.
I think a late rounds ref stoppage for AJ is the outcome. He won’t blow Povetkin away. He’ll win in workman like fashion like he’s been doing as of late.
Takam and Parker circled the ring playing safety first though; we've seen povetkin reduced to that in the late rounds vs wlad but never seen him start that way. Hopefully he'll come out for a KO and we'll get a tear up
Robot in 10. Specially hand-picked/de-briefed-by-Hearn referee will jump in after a flurry from robot.
Price quit? Kuzmin was a good amateur and seems to have good technique, but wasn't too impressive here. If he were a puncher, Price should have been put to sleep from those shots
Cambell vs Mendy looks like their first encounter. Both have some skill, there is a clash of styles, but there is no drama whatsoever