Anthony Joshua will have his career on the line against IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois on September 21st at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
The End of The Road For Joshua
Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) turns 35 in two months on October 15 and is too old to rebuild again after a knockout loss to the 26-year-old Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs).
Trying to come back from yet another loss would be too much for AJ, and it would be useless to take His Excellency Turki Alalshikh up on his offer to still make the fight with Tyson Fury, even after a defeat against Dubois.
If Fury loses the rematch with WBA, WBC, and WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21st, the dream All Brit Fury-Joshua fight will be even more sad because the boxing public will view it as such:
- Money grab
- Old-timers
Joshua and Fury would be coming from losses and trying to sell their fight to the world. It wouldn’t be a good idea for them to do this, but I wouldn’t put it past either.
Regarding Joshua being rebuilt by trainer Ben Davison and refurbished to factory settings in 2013, that isn’t the reality. The only thing that’s happened is that Joshua has matched against the absolute worst opposition that promoter Eddie Hearn could find to make him look great again.
Joshua’s Artificial Refurbishing
– Francis Ngannou
– Otto Wallin
– Robert Helenius
– Jermaine Franklin
“If AJ gets beaten by Dubois, even AJ can’t rebuild himself to be a force again. I don’t think so at this stage of his career. If Dubois loses, he’ll come again. He’ll rebuild. If AJ loses, that’s that, which is why I think he’ll win,” said Ade Oladipo to the talkSport Boxing YouTube channel, explaining why he’s picking Anthony Joshua to defeat IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois on September 21st.
It’s already too late to rebuild Joshua because he’s already in his mid-30s, and he was badly flawed from the get-go. Even during the ‘good years’ for AJ, Hearn matched him against strictly beatable opposition, like 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko, Charles Martin, Alexander Povetkin, Joseph Parker, Eric Molina, and Carlos Takam.
That’s as good as it gets with Joshua regarding his best wins during the zenith of his career. He didn’t fight a prime Wladimir unless you consider a rudderless 41-year-old Wlad as being at his best. He was old, without his trainer Emanuel Steward, who passed away and had been by Tyson Fury two years earlier in 2015.
The Fury Fight: A Dream Fading?
“That’s a fight that AJ wants so desperately [Fury],” said Ade about the Joshua vs. Fury fight. “It would be so strange if AJ were to end his career in a couple of years, and it doesn’t include a Wilder or Fury. It’s weight, but it’s going to be too tough to make because Fury has got to get past Oleksandr Usyk, and we saw how that played out last time out [on May 18th with Tyson losing by a 12-round split decision].”
It won’t be the end of the world if Joshua and Fury don’t fight because some things just aren’t meant to be. Both guys are rich already and are not hurting for money. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Joshua’s net worth is estimated at $80 million, whereas Fury’s is $140 million. If they don’t fight, they’ll still live like a pair of rich kings in England or wherever they retire.
“I know Turki [Alalshikh] talked about ‘It doesn’t matter if Fury loses, you can still make AJ-Fury.’ You could, but the interest isn’t the same. If both [Fury and Joshua] were to win, it’s the biggest fight we’ve seen in this country and one of the biggest fights in the world of the sport. But if Fury were to lose, would anyone desperately want to see AJ vs. Fury? Will Fury want to fight AJ? I’m not quite sure,” said Ade.
The last thing fans need is for Joshua and Fury to fight if one or both of them lose their next fights. It’s so late in the careers of both that it no longer means anything. Fury looks like he’s in his mid-50s, and Joshua can no longer take a punch. He is at the point where his promoter Hearn is propping him up with his clever match-making.
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