Boxing experts Tim Bradley and Paulie Malignaggi believe Anthony Joshua’s stock is rising due to his recent wins, while Tyson Fury’s is dropping due to his own.
Bradley feels that Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) could beat WBC heavyweight champion Fury now, and he’s not even sure that Tyson will get past IBF/WBA/WBO champ Oleksandr Usyk in their clash on May 18th.
Fury, 35, has lost something from his game and is starting to show signs of decline. In contrast, Joshua has made progress with the help of his trainer, Ben Davison, who improved his technical skills by instilling confidence that had been missing since his loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019.
The Case for Joshua
“Look at AJ’s resume. Look at all the top contenders on there, and then go take a look at Fury’s. The last version that we saw of Tyson Fury. That guy right there does not beat AJ, and I’m not sure Tyson Fury is going to get past Usyk, I’m really not,” said boxing expert Tim Bradley to the Probox TV YouTube channel, reacting to Anthony Joshua’s impressive win over Francis Ngannou last Friday night.
Fury seems to have aged since his third fight with Deontay Wilder in 2021, and some believe that the right hands that he absorbed in that fight took something out of him physically. Of course, when looking at Fury’s father, John Fury.
He was washed up when he was 30, and Tyson looks just like him. It could be inherited from Fury, which is bad news for him because he could be done as a fighter at 35.
“I don’t know what form of Fury we’re going to get. But if Fury were to beat Usyk, of course, they got a rematch. I want to see AJ and Tyson Fury go head-to-head. I want to see who is the best in England, if not the world,” said Bradley.
Malignaggi: Joshua’s Momentum is Unstoppable
“The way the momentum is going in favor of Joshua. Usyk didn’t look good in his last fight against Dubois. Fury didn’t look good against Ngannou. Right now, AJ has become the talk of the heavyweight division,” said boxing expert Paulie Malignaggi.
It’s important that we put Joshua’s wins in perspective, considering he still hasn’t beaten anyone noteworthy since his victory over Wladimir Klitschko in 2017. AJ’s recent wins were against lesser opposition, beating these guys:
Francis Ngannou
Otto Wallin
Robert Helenius
Jermaine Franklin
“When you have a guy like AJ who has all the star power, and he once again becomes the star of the heavyweight division, it’s going to be hard for guys to overcome that because AJ has that IT factor all the time,” said Malignaggi.
