Anthony Joshua back in business with Franklin win
Plus, Loma and Haney set to meet while Robeisy hits gold
The heavyweight division is a poorer place without a fit and firing Anthony Joshua. For all of the surrounding nonsense, promotional spin and increasingly bizarre post-fight interviews, the Watford man is an intriguing character, often involved in exciting fights.
While his 12-round points win over Jermaine Franklin in the O2 Arena last Saturday evening lacked the buzz of usual AJ experiences, the fact that he always appears to be a couple of well-placed punches away from being rocked, adds nervous tension.
For the first few rounds, Joshua’s stance was reminiscent of Frank Bruno. Stiff and static, working behind a strong left jab, the potential for a sudden game changing shot loomed large. However, as the fight went on it became a very Klitschko-esque performance. Lots of hard, accurate jabs, combined with the overhand right and a few uppercuts. Not as many left hooks as Wlad would’ve thrown but Joshua was effectively functional.
Joshua grabs another win - Photo credit: Sky News
Even the 33-year-old’s mannerisms were reminiscent of Klitschko. During dominant spells, whenever the opponent fired back, he was very quick to hold, grab and lean on. Joshua sometimes appeared a little ruffled and disorganised, giving the impression that a couple of clean shots might lead to trouble.
But those tide turning punches never arrived and by the time the scores were read out by superhuman MC David Diamante, it was another routine victory, achieved with the minimum of fuss. Classic peak Klitschko reign material.
Since Joshua’s veered off the rails a bit, the post-fight interviews are becoming an entertaining event as he threatens to rip up the script at any moment and go rogue. In the ring, Matchroom’s prize possession remains vulnerable. A decent fighter with a punch, who can find his chin, will have a lot of success.
Anthony lacks that confidence of the earlier, Charles Martin kind of era. He’ll never be the same fighter again but against the Jermaine Franklin’s of this world, that doesn’t matter. That said, Franklin unleashed neat combinations and certainly played his part.
Despite employing a fast jab, Jermaine couldn't punch hard enough to make a permanent dent and was too small to regularly reach the target. He does have a good chin and commendable stamina. These traits, combined with the back-to-back showings against first Dillian Whyte and now Joshua, will secure him further opportunities as a credible opponent.
The Asylum had plenty to say on AJ’s performance
The Michigan man was unable to cope with the late fight holding. At the end of some of the sessions he attempted to initiate some in-ring beef to keep himself motivated.
Overall, it was a quiet night at the office for AJ who is very much a work in progress under new coach Derrick James. As Anthony said himself, nobody will remember this fight in 15 years time. You could probably amend that to 15 days.
ROBEISY RAMIREZ THE LATEST CUBAN HOPE
Robeisy Ramirez is part of the new breed of Cubans - he’s a risk taker. Not for every minute of each round, like his compatriots Yoelvis Gomez or David Morrell, but for spells he explodes into action and lets the hands go. Sometimes those hands are dangling around at waist height, as the 29-year-old two-time Olympic gold medallist goads opponents with a confidence that borders on arrogance. Not everybody warms to that approach, but it all adds to the drama.
Isaac Dogboe, meanwhile, was his usual self in the ESPN bill-topper in Tulsa last Saturday evening. While Robeisy showed poise and power from the southpaw stance, Dogboe threw as many shots as he could muster from a stoic, compact shell. Some landed. Most didn’t. Occasionally Ramirez went for broke and allowed Dogboe a little glimpse of the chin he was so desperate to crack.
Strong and committed, throwing lots of right hands and body shots, Dogboe turned southpaw occasionally when struggling for ideas. Dogboe was even dropped in the final round by a cuffing left hand. He looked a little off balance in truth.
While the wide cards were probably fair, they didn't do the African road warrior much justice in his consistent efforts to turn the fight around. Ramirez picked up the vacant WBO featherweight title and has now turned his professional career full circle after suffering a shock debut loss back in 2019.
NUTHOUSE NOTES
Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko have agreed to fight on May 20 in Las Vegas. This bout has been a while in the making so it’s good to finally see the pair put pen to paper. Between Lomachenko moving up in weight to find a challenge and Haney twice going to Australia to tame George Kambosos, it was always likely the two would get it on. Their respective track records prove they want to make big fights.
Haney is huge for lightweight, possesses a fantastic jab and can tie up and smother when needed. If anyone can get inside and make the champion work it is Loma but this might be too big of a task even for him. A heavy puncher capable of dragging ‘The Dream’ into a dog fight will bother him, but the Ukrainian doesn’t offer that threat.
Vergil Ortiz has pulled out of his late April meeting with Eimantas Stanionis. It’s a shame as this is a great fight and hopefully Oscar and the team aren’t moving him into something easier. It’s been labelled as a postponement, so fingers crossed. Ortiz’s career has hit the skids a little as he increasingly tries to skin his frame down to an unnatural weight.
This process is clearly making him ill and needs to stop. On the other hand, there may be some movement on Spence-Crawford which has caused this untimely withdrawal. If it means the much-anticipated superfight is about to get made then let Ortiz pull out all he wants. On the other hand, Ortiz could be pulling out to fill in against Crawford, which means the Spence fight isn’t happening*. It’s the hope that kills you!
Photo credit: Ring Magazine
Finally, May 27 is shaping up to be a bumper night of action. That of course means ardent fans will miss a lot of it and have to contend with three quality main events starting at or around the same time. Leigh Wood will try and gain revenge over Mauricio Lara in Manchester, live on DAZN. I expect that to end in a similar fashion to the first fight. Lara punches too hard, despite Wood’s boxing ability.
Way down on the coast, Boxxer will promote Chris Billam-Smith in Bournemouth. It is expected to be an all-British clash against WBO cruiserweight king Lawrence Okolie, although at the time of writing this has not been 100 percent confirmed. I like CBS as a person and a fighter but Okolie is awkwardly effective and might stop him late or literally squeeze him to points. There is an interesting trainer dynamic (Shane McGuigan) in that one as well.
Across the water in Belfast, Michael Conlan bids to finally fulfil his world title dream when he takes on IBF featherweight champion Luis Alberto Lopez. The Mexican is pretty unorthodox but very effective. In 2019, Ruben Villa cut Lopez and outboxed him, before the loser embarked on an impressive run to world title level. The blueprint is there for Mick to box rings around Lopez, providing the Irishman stays out of danger and doesn’t get caught late on.
* Just as this post is being scheduled, sources are reporting that Spence vs. Crawford is indeed in the works for June 17.
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About Steve: Experienced boxing writer, author of 8 books and podcaster of over 400 eps. 15+ years in the sport. Covered hundreds of shows for newspapers and Boxing News magazine. Chief script writer for Motivedia channel. For enquiries: stevenwellings1982@gmail.com.