Eddie Hearn is satisfied that Anthony Joshua solely must be himself to dethrone IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois on Saturday night time as a result of he’s a “100 occasions higher fighter” now than when he fought Wladimir Klitschko in 2017.
If Joshua is “100 occasions higher” now than seven years in the past, he ought to make straightforward work of Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs), so long as he doesn’t get chinned. Even when Joshua is a greater fighter technically, he’s nonetheless in his mid-30s and has had a protracted profession.
Hearn attributes Joshua’s improvement to coach Ben Davison’s work since teaming up with him final December for his combat with Otto Wallin.
Because of the restricted opposition, we haven’t seen whether or not the enhancements Hearn talks about with Joshua are actual or imagined.
The 34-year-old Joshua has solely fought twice since including Davison as his coach. AJ beat Wallin and Francis Ngannou. These aren’t fairly top-tier competitions, and which may clarify why Joshua regarded so good.
“Simply be himself. He’s executed work. A implausible coaching crew, techniques, and we all know precisely what we bought to do,” stated Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing about what Anthony Joshua should do to defeat Daniel Dubois on Saturday.
“While you watch again all these fights and the Klitschko combat, it nearly makes me chuckle a bit of bit about how far he’s bought with the precise information and talent that he had on the time,” Hearn continued about Joshua.
AJ’s stamina was higher when he fought Klitschko, and he was extra keen to assault his opponents. Joshua is slower, older, and extra cautious now due to his age, chin points, and conditioning issues.
“He’s a 100 occasions higher fighter now than he was again then throughout. Footwork, protection, expertise, information, all the pieces. Again then, it was simply pure coronary heart, rawness, and brute pressure. Now, he’s bought each attribute. The most effective heavyweight on the planet, and we’ll show it on Saturday night time,” stated Hearn.
The best way Joshua fights now wouldn’t work in opposition to Wladimir as a result of he would combat at a sluggish tempo, and that may have given the previous unified world champion loads of time to line him up with considered one of his huge pictures.
“I do know precisely what I’m going to do. I’m not leaving it as much as anybody. I do know precisely what to do, and I’m going to do it, and I’ll do it,” stated Joshua.
AJ isn’t giving any hints about his recreation plan for Saturday, however he’ll probably attempt to begin slowly to maintain from getting caught early by Dubois. In addition to Joshua’s combat with the one-fight novice Ngannou, Joshua had been knocking out his opponents no sooner than the fifth spherical within the final eight years since 2016.
