Why is Anthony Joshua not getting better faster?

Boxingnews24.com

By Rob Blakeman

Like many of you, I have not long ago watched the so-called World Heavyweight Unification fight between IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and WBO champion Joseph Parker last Saturday night.

I suspect many of you were like myself left heavily disappointed by the ‘Craft’ displayed. This was not World Championship level boxing by any stretch of the imagination. True the action wasn’t helped by a referee who made ‘Mr. Bean’ look like a University Graduate but the real fight was with the fighters.

Joshua was appalling, lacking in ideas, commitment and courage. I am shocked that Robert McCracken allowed him to box so badly. No passion, no ferocity, no kind of audition for him to box the limited but at least tenacious other Champion Deontay Wilder. As an audition for that fight Joshua should have swiped this guy like a fly and made short work of the shorter man. This was a version of Joshua inferior to the one who beat Wladimir Klitschko. We were all being told how he had learned from these fights and was a more rounded, schooled and seasoned fighter. Excuse me while I laugh and reminisce of the days of Evander Holyfield v Mike Tyson, Michael Moorer v Francois Botha and even Lennox Lewis V Frank Bruno matches. Men with real desire for glory not gun-shy millionaires with survival instincts like hyena’s looking to survive and rely on points decision wins (in this case, a much wider score than actuality for Joshua which also leaves a bad taste in the mouth).

Overall, a pity full spectacle that would have left me crying if I’d paid to be at the actual event. The main problem was Joshua, who looked like a single digit fight novice with no ambition to be a decisive winner at all. His uppercuts were crude when threw and combinations were in short supply. Cutting off the ring against the smaller man didn’t seem to occur to fighter or trainer, neither of whom seemed to have a game plan and McCracken has lost a lot of my respect on this performance. This was not a better fighter in any discernible way whatsoever. This endless training, they are always bragging about at the GB camp needs to be supervised by someone qualified as it is bearing no fruit whatsoever in the ring. They really should think of getting another trainer for Joshua before they inevitably look for one when the defeat occurs.