Welcome back fight fans to another video here on The Fight Game.
The heavyweight division, a division storied with great champions and influential figures.
From Joe Louis to Jack Johnson.
From Rocky Marciano to Jack Dempsey.
From Ali to Foreman, Holmes to Frazier, Holyfield to Tyson, if you hadn't guessed already the
history of the heavyweight division is one that goes back over a
century.
The progress of the heavyweight division is an evolution in itself.
Ali: I know you got him picked!
But the man's in trouble, imma show you how great I am!
Anthony Joshua might just be one of the most destructive combination powerhouses we've
seen in recent history of the heavyweight division.
He has the aesthetic of a Greek statue, power that demands respect,
fundamental skills and the heart of a lion to go along with it.
He's only 1 of 4 heavyweight champions in history to hold a win over every opponent
he's faced.
After his professional debut 7 years ago he's collected
23 victories and 1 loss, a loss which he avenged.
But records are overrated in Boxing, character and a measure of greatness is where true appraisals
belong.
We've seen Joshua time and time again show the world that he's got the grit and determination
to persevere.
He's 30 years old, at his absolute peak, he has
4 world titles in his possession, 3 of these being recognized as major.
Joshua can box and he can punch, versatility and the ability to adapt your style
is an important quality to have at the elite level of Boxing.
He can box in close, he can box on the outside.
He has some incredible wins over some of the top contenders in Boxing.
No wonder why so many fans around the world love him.
So, for this video we're taking a look at the question of if Anthony Joshua is the King
of The Heavyweight Division.
To entertain this question, we need to compel ourselves to a series of categories.
Power, Speed, Ring IQ, and Laudability.
Let's begin, first up, Power.
[TITLE: POWER]
If the heavyweight division was a country, Power would be it's capital.
When it comes to Power, Joshua's one of the best.
He's one of the hardest hitting heavyweights we have today.
[CROWD CHEERING] Commentator: Oh and a left hand, and a right
hand, and down goes the Russian!
However it may be right to say that his power isn't on the same level of Deontay Wilder,
but it's definitely impressive.
Commentator: He's going hunting, and he's going hunting now...
Right hand!
Flattens Eric Molina!
With 21 knockout victories to his name, he's dropped the likes of Alexander Povetkin and
Wladimir Klitschko.
There's typically two types of Power in Boxing, there's heavy-handed power, and one-punch
lights-out knockout power.
I classify Joshua's power as heavy-handed, whereas the likes of Deontay Wilder's power
would be the one-and-done type.
Heavy-handed power is destructive, it's the accumulation of strong powerful blows to the
head and body that breaks the opponent down.
In his fight versus Dominic Brazeale, Joshua implemented his power over the course
of numerous rounds.
He showed that he was able to remain calm and collected as Brazeale absorbed more and
more punishment.
Brazeale was just as big as Joshua, and Joshua's power combined with good skill was what enabled
Joshua to eventually knock Brazeale out in round 7.
However he can't knock every opponent out, and when he faced Ruiz
in 2019 his power alone was not enough to keep Ruiz down.
Ruiz took Joshua's best shots.
Every fighter is different, but we must also consider Joshua's knockout victories
over Dillian Whyte and Carlos Takam.
When Joshua took on Kevin Johnson in his first real test in the professional ranks, he showed
that his power was something that separates him from the rest.
Johnson was a boxer who went the distance with the likes of Christian Hammer, Dereck
Chisora, Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury.
Joshua however knocked him out in 2 rounds.
Commentator: That reputation for durability is well-well deserved, but how much longer
can this go on... and it's stopped!
It's over!
Done!
So as far as Power goes, yes, Joshua has plenty of it.
Next up, Speed.
[TITLE: SPEED]
Joshua's speed is often overshadowed by his knockout power.
Joshua is a very large heavyweight, when he's at his optimal weight in fights he's extremely
fluid for a man of his stature.
In fights such as the Molina, Ruiz 2, Parker and Brazeale fights he looked great, he was
fast in both the hands and feet.
He will never move like a welterweight, but he doesn't have to.
From what we've seen so far and considering his size, Joshua moves fast.
He's not as fast as Tyson Fury, but he's fast enough to formulate a destructive combination
in response to a split second opening from an opponent.
He has a snappy jab, and that's not as common as you might think from a 6 foot 6 heavyweight
boxer.
However to measure his speed is somewhat inconsistent, in the first Ruiz fight he looked
rather slow and ponderous, and this is generally the result of being too muscle bound.
Any coach will tell you that a boxer must never
have too much muscle.
However when the rematch came around, Joshua had a perfect physique for a boxer.
He was lean, and that fight just proved that Joshua's prime, optimal shape is
when he's not muscle bound.
So in his prime physical shape, Joshua is certainly fast.
He's very quick to the punch, and he's one of the best finishers in the sport when he
has an opponent hurt.
Following speed, we've got Ring IQ.
[TITLE: RING IQ]
Ring IQ, or Ring Intelligence, can be defined as the ability, consciously or subconsciously,
to create or take advantage of situations in the ring that brings one's self closer
to a victory.
Joshua has a very underrated Ring IQ.
A foundational component of Joshua's ring intelligence is his jab.
The jab is the cornerstone to any great boxer.
Joshua keeps his opponents at a distance with his jab, we saw this especially in the Ruiz
rematch.
His Ring IQ doesn't stop there though, Joshua's got some of the best footwork
in the heavyweight division.
He's very active with his feet, always moving side to side, and this lateral movement makes
sure his opponents cant plant their feet to punch.
A Boxer has various means to defend an attack, Joshua
uses his feet very effectively to evade oncoming attacks.
Lateral footwork can also be used to put one's self in a more favorable position
in the ring, such as the center.
Another layer of defense Joshua utilizes is parrying.
Joshua is very good at using parries to deter punches away.
There are many ways to parry a punch, Joshua parries down and to the side.
Parries can also be used to set up punches, let's take a look at this fight versus Kevin
Johnson.
The fight started with Joshua feinting, watch here as he parries away Johnson's jab.
Soon Joshua parried another jab.
It's common for boxers to steer the punch away after
parrying a bodyshot.
Now watch here, Joshua intentionally paws his right hand out, and Johnson communicates
back with a jab.
This sequence is what many fans like to call the 'feeling-out' process.
It's almost like a mutual agreement in the movement of both fighters to test for openings.
Watch here as Johnson imitates Joshua by parrying one of his own.
Imitation is a common subconscious activity that takes place in the so-called feeling-out
process.
Now watch this.
[CROWD CHEERING]
At first glance you wouldn't think much of it, but lets take a closer look.
Notice both Joshua and Johnson trying to look for a parry with their right hand.
Joshua jabs Johnson's parry, and since imitation is common in the
beginning of a fight, there was a high chance Johnson was going to return with a jab aswell.
Joshua knew this, and instead of parrying Johnson's Jab, he slips and counters over
with a right hand.
Remember that to notice and capitalize on these imitative tendencies is not something
a boxer may do consciously, it's something a very educated Boxer simply does naturally
and it's often referred to as Ring IQ.
Another fight where Joshua showed great Ring IQ was in the Joseph Parker fight.
If we had a heat-map of the activity between both fighters in the ring, it would look something
like this.
Joshua would spend most of his time in the green zone, whereas Parker would spend most
of his time in the red-zone.
Joshua was able to display a boxing masterclass from the
center of the ring, always feinting and jabbing Parker to keep him guessing.
Joshua also extended his lead arm a lot to interrupt Parker's attacks and keep him at
a distance.
Joshua held the center of the ring with a consistent
jab.
Joshua also showed great ring intelligence in the Ruiz rematch, after being beat before
Joshua avenged a loss by correcting mistakes.
The ability to learn is the prerequisite to success.
Joshua is a deceptively intelligent boxer, his coach Robert McCracken is also very knowledgeable.
Joshua's ability to remain humble and learn from mistakes has enabled him to
absorb information around him like a sponge.
Lastly, we have Laudability.
[TITLE: LAUDABILITY]
Laudability can be defined as how worthy Joshua would be when you take into account the external
factors we haven't mentioned yet.
Of course, world titles come into play.
Joshua has 3 major world titles, the WBA, the WBO, and
the IBF.
He's also a two-time world champion, he became a champion again after defeating Ruiz in their
immediate rematch.
It's hard to win a world title, it's even harder to keep one,
but it's the hardest to win one back.
Joshua's stringent discipline to avenge a loss is often what separates great champions
from only good champions.
Of all the qualities Joshua has, it's the balanced blend of each one of them that truly
makes him a heavyweight king.
He has Power, but not too much where it sacrifices speed,
and not too much speed and power where it sacrifices Ring IQ.
He's got a bit of everything, and sometimes that will be better than too much of one thing,
but in other cases too much of one thing, say Power, is what wins the fight.
That's why we have the saying in boxing of 'styles make fights.'
You never really know how two styles will mix in the ring until it happens.
That's why when we look at the competitors in the heavyweight division, Joshua's standing
as the so-called 'King' requires to be tested still by the likes of Deontay Wilder and Tyson
Fury.
So the question comes, is Anthony Joshua the King of the heavyweight division?
It may be too soon to tell, we need to see Fury or Wilder fight Joshua to make any sort
of judgement.
Fury has a great case and if not a better case to be called the King of the Heavyweight
division, however on the flipside to that coin Joshua has shown nothing but respect
for his duty of being the heavyweight champ, and that
calls for great approbation.
It's no secret that the big heavyweight fight that grips the attention of the world, especially
in Europe, is Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury.
But until a fight like that happens, all we can do is sit back and speculate of what could
be.
So what do you think, do you think Joshua is the current King of the heavyweight division,
or is it Tyson Fury?
If you'd like us to make a similar video looking at the question of if Tyson Fury is the king
of the heavyweight division, let us know in the comment section below.
That brings a close to this video, we hope you enjoyed it and if you did consider giving
it a like as it helps us grow the channel.
We'll see you in the next video here on The Fight Game.