Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has knocked out and won all his first 20 professional fights, which has skyrocketed his status in his division. In 2018, Joshua fought Joseph Parker in a championship battle, resulting in the first fierce battle with his opponent, resulting in a 100% knockout rate, but even so, Joshua still beat Parker by a huge margin.
In 2019, Joshua broke out the biggest upset in heavyweight boxing in the 21st century, losing to "Little Fat" Andy Ruiz Jr. in a highly optimistic situation, and that match was regarded as a watershed in Joshua's career, after which his career became ups and downs, although he successfully revenge Ruiz and regained the title, but in 2021-2022, he lost twice to Orekosander Usyk and fell into the icy bottom again.
In April, Joshua, led by new coach Derek James, defeated Jermaine Franklin by points to win the comeback battle, but unfortunately the performance was a little slack, and most people felt that if Joshua wanted to rise again, he must regain his killer instinct.
This week, rising heavyweight star Fraser Clark (7-0, 5 KOs), told The Independent that he believes Joshua can make a difference in the days ahead.
Clark, 31, was Joshua's teammate in the British boxing team and the two fought together many times. Last year, Clark also served as Joshua's sparring partner to help prepare for the rematch with Usyk, so Clark is very familiar with Joshua, and he remembers Joshua's punches vividly when commenting on Joshua.
Clark said: "Joshua's power is like a sledgehammer, and he will take you out with a sledgehammer. To use an analogy, it's like smashing something with a sledgehammer, or hitting it multiple times with an ordinary hammer, like nailing, this is Joshua's style, he will knock you down with a sledgehammer at the last moment, bang! ”
Many people find it difficult to make a comeback in Joshua's current state, but Clark does not think so, and he firmly believes that Joshua has the strength to rise again. In addition, Clark also stressed that Joshua is not only a heavy gunner, his intelligence and skills are quite outstanding, especially the combination punching ability is underestimated.
"It's not a good thing to be hit by a heavyweight, you only have to look at Joshua, this guy is made up of muscles, he has very developed muscles, and when Joshua strikes, both fans and opponents don't realize the problem, which is that Joshua is not only good at one-punch attacks, his combination is great and very fast." ”
Clark added: "When Joshua gets the chance, he attacks frequently, punches heavier and heavier each time, you can deal with Joshua one attack, but it's hard to deal with the two, three, four attacks he does from different angles. Joshua is at a low point now, but I believe he can make a comeback. ”
Joshua was scheduled to make his debut in August, but his opponent was long undecided, after which he planned to take on Deontay Wild in December. Wild is known for his attacking power, with a knockout rate above Joshua, and has only lost to Tyson Fury so far.
For the potential Joshua vs Wild clash, although the outside world is more optimistic about Wild, don't forget that in addition to being technically superior to Wild, Joshua's heavy punches are not inferior to his opponents, so he is expected to become the second person to defeat Wild after Fury.