Mike Tyson picks Joshua over Klitschko; Quigg-Simion analysis – News

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By Allan Fox: Former knockout artist Mike Tyson is picking Anthony Joshua to beat Wladimir Klitschko by an early knockout tonight in their fight in London, England. Tyson says Joshua ‘s fighting style is similar fighter to a young former heavyweight champion George Foreman. Tyson sees the 27-year-old Joshua as a real “beast” and he’s looking forward to watching him fight the 41-year-old Klitschko tonight in their fight on HBO/Showtime Championship Boxing from Wembley Stadium in London, England. The Joshua-Klitschko fight will also be televised on Sky Box Office PPV in the UK.

Like a young Foreman, Joshua is knocking everyone out quickly in the first 6 rounds of his fights. Foreman was a lighter than the 250 pound Joshua is now at age 27. When Foreman dismantled Joe Frazier in 2 rounds in 1973, he only weighed 217 pounds at 6’4”. In contrast, Joshua is 6’6”, and weighed 33 pounds more at 27. What Foreman showed back then was he didn’t need a lot of muscle for him to generate huge power with both hands. In looking back at Foreman’s fights, he appeared to be a bigger puncher than Joshua is now.

Foreman was devastating on the inside with his uppercuts, and he had a far better jab than Joshua. Foreman liked to jab a lot to set up his big power shots. Joshua rarely jabs. He mostly focuses on throwing big power shots and a lot of combinations. Joshua does possess an uppercut, but it’s not in the same class as a young Foreman, who was amazingly powerful with that punch. Foreman was also an Olympic gold medal winner like Joshua and Klitschko. Foreman didn’t have much experience before going into the Olympics and winning a gold medal.

“He is just a beast. A big beast,” said Tyson to skysports.com about Joshua. “Joshua reminds me of a young George Foreman. He is just wrecking anyone that’s in front of him to get to the top. He is demolishing everyone.”

Tyson picks Joshua to knockout Wladimir early in the fight in the first 4 rounds. However, if Joshua fails to get Wladimir out of there early, then Tyson thinks Wladimir will take the fight late.

Joshua doesn’t have a lot of experience. That’s one area that could hurt him tonight. He’s being rushed a little in facing Klitschko without any kind of step up fighter. Joshua is going from facing C-level heavyweights like Dominic Breazeale, Dillian Whyte, Gary Cornish and Eric Molina to fighting an A-level fighter in Klitschko. It’s a HUGE step up in class for Joshua, and he could very well fall on his face tonight. Joshua has looked since turning pro in 2013, but he’s also been fighting very bad opposition.

Joshua’s promoters at Matchroom Sport have been very calculating with the guys that they’ve put in with him. They’ve build Joshua up to look better than he actually is. Joshua is a good fighter, but he’s obviously not as good as his record would indicate. We saw Joshua’s limitations in the Olympics when he struggled repeatedly against each good fighter he faced.

At the pro level, Joshua has not been fighting the same quality of fighter that he was fighting in the Olympics. The guys that Joshua was facing in the Olympics were very good fighters. Surprisingly, none of those fighters have turned pro as of yet. That’s the real surprise there were some very good opponents that Joshua had problems with in winning 4 controversial decisions in that Olympics.

“In my mind, it’s got to be Joshua early on – and I hope he does it – but if it goes late it could be Klitschko,” said Tyson.

Joshua will need to be less of a “beast” tonight if he wants to keep from getting knocked out himself by Klitschko. Joshua is facing a very good fighter in Wladimir, and he can’t just attack blindly like he’s been doing against the showcase opponents that have been thrown in the ring for him to mow down.

Joshua will need to show some actual boxing skills, which he hasn’t shown thus far. If Joshua just attacks Wladimir like a wild man, he could wind up getting knocked out like Kubrat Pulev did. Wladimir was able to knock Pulev down repeatedly with left hooks in their fight in 2014 before stopping him in round 5.

Joshua isn’t going to be able to knock Wladimir out unless he can corner him early. That’s not going to be easy to do because Wladimir will be on his bike for 3 minutes of every round. Joshua has good power, but he needs to set his feet for him to deliver that power. Joshua hasn’t shown the ability to punch with power on the run.

Scott Quigg vs. Viorel Simion analysis and prediction

Former WBA World super bantamweight champion Scott Quigg (32-1-2, 24 KOs) will be fighting tonight against #6 IBF featherweight contender Viorel Simion (21-1, 8 KOs) in a 12 round fight on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko fight at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Quigg, 28, wants a title shot against IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby.

Quigg suffered a broken jaw last year in a 12 round split decision loss to Carl Frampton. Quigg has won 1 fight since that loss in beating Jose Cayetano by a 9th round knockout last December in his fight at featherweight. Quigg’s loss to Frampton ended his 3-year reign as the WBA 122-pound champion. Quigg had been the WBA champion from 2013 to 2016.

Simion has lost once in the pros to Lee Selby by a 12 round unanimous four years ago in 2013. It was a close fight, but Selby was the clear winner. He used his boxing skills to pound out the 12 round decision. Simion has loosed good since then in winning five fights in a row.

35-year-old Simion competed in the 2004 Olympics. He won two fights before losing to Jo Seok-Hwan of South Korea by a close decision.

Prediction

Quigg will knockout out Simion inside 6 rounds. Quigg has too much punching for a light puncher like Simion, and that’s going to make the fight a lot easier. If Simion has some power to keep Quigg off of him, then he could last the full 12 round distance, but he doesn’t have the needed power. Simion will be boxing and trying to survive, but it’s not going to keep him from being dispatched by Quigg.

Also in action tonight, lightweight contender Luke Campbell (16-1, 13 KOs) and former WBA World lightweight champion Darleys Perez (33-2-2, 21 KOs) will be fighting a 12 round fight in a WBA lightweight title eliminator match. Campbell’s promoter Eddie Hearn is hoping to get Campbell a title shot against WBA lightweight champion Jorge Linares. Campbell is rated #5 WBC and #6 IBF. There are contenders that are ranked above Campbell and Perez in the World Boxing Association’s rankings, but Hearn was still able to get the WBA to go along with the idea of making it an eliminator match to face Linares.

Linares is obviously viewed by Hearn as a winnable fight for Campbell. Hearn isn’t having Campbell go after WBC champion Mikey Garcia in a WBC eliminator despite Campbell being ranked higher at #5 by the World Boxing Council. You can understand why Hearn wouldn’t be so eager to make Campbell the mandatory challenger for WBC champion Mikey Garcia. That would be a knockout waiting to happen for Campbell. This strategic move by Hearn to maneuver Campbell into position to become Linares might not work though, as Mikey and Linares could face each other in a title eliminator soon. If that happens, then Miley will likely win quite easily.