Joshua - Pulev Predictions

So what's everyones' thoughts on how this fight will pan out? I don't think that Pulev is a huge threat - he doesn't have BIG heavyweight power and seems to be one of those fighters who tends to do "just enough" to get the job done. He's been IBF Mandatory for about 3 years I think, and was due to fight Joshua in 2017. He pulled out due to injury and has been waiting ever since due to unification fights and losses. He's not exactly set the world on fire in his fights since.

I have a feeling that Joshua will want to impress in this outing - he fought to a very specific gameplan in the 2nd Ruiz fight and made it look easy. I feel he'll be a little bit heavier but will probably hurt Pulev fairly early and it'll be over by the end of Round 4.

Pulev is susceptible to the left hook but is fairly tough so as long as Joshua isn't gunshy he should end things in the mid rounds through an accumulation rather than one punch.

AJ- 239lbs for this fight so only marginally heavier than last time out, think 17st (238lbs) is his optimum weight.

Backing an upset. Pulev to survive the early onslaught, take advantage of Joshua's poor stamina and defence, and win by late TKO.

Eddie Hearn will be crying into his cereal if that happens.

In Joshua's last fight - Ruiz v Joshua 2 - Joshua showed tremendous stamina.  In that fight Joshua was less interested in trading blows and more interested in a stick and move tactic to win on points.  There was a claim before that fight that his lack of stamina in previous fights was due to some condition that may have been diet related and that had been diagnosed.

Ps.  I am seeing comments elsewhere that AJ is looking less like a body builder and more like a boxer following his slim down in preparation for the Ruiz v Joshua 2 fight.  Some have suggested that AJ may have removed certain supplements from his diet.  I am thinking maybe those supplements and the resultant body builder physique was the cause of Joshua's stamina issues.

Posters getting carried away by a lively Pulev conference.....Guy is 40 soon.  Shouldn't be fighting at this age..

Tubbs, Page, Holmes, Tyson, Holy, Witherspoon, Bowe, Lewis, Louis, Thomas, Weaver etc all at their best in their mid/late 20s..Tyson earlier..lewis slightly later.....All finished well before 40 at the top level.

Joshua ko 2 Pulev...Too stiff...Too old.

I agree Truss, not many over forties achieve much unless you count Big George and his opposition wasn't of the highest standard. I expect an early shower for both and a meeting with Fury for Joshua.

I reckon the most likely outcome is a unanimous decision for A.J.  

I think A.J. will be cagey until he builds up some confidence and if he sees that Pulev is vulnerable, so maybe a later round stoppage for A.J.

I see AJ approaching this fight in a similar way to how he approached Ruiz in the rematch, and sort of expect that this will be the way he fights from here on out.

If he senses that he has stunned Pulev at any point during the fight, then I'd expect him to go for the knock out, but do not expect the all-out attack that he's gone for with previous opponents, prior to the first Ruiz fight. Even if he does go looking for the knockout, I think it will be much more measured, without 'throwing caution to the wind'.

I'm thinking AJ by KO in rounds 6-8.

Pulev will be down and out by the 9th.

whatahitson wrote:Pulev will be down and out by the 9th.

Good work that man!

Mr Bounce wrote:

whatahitson wrote:Pulev will be down and out by the 9th.

Good work that man!

LOL

Haven’t posted on here in years, Good performance from AJ, Pulev is a nutter

Nice to see you back Wheels. Hope you're keeping well

Mr Bounce wrote:Nice to see you back Wheels. Hope you're keeping well

I’m good thank you mr bounce, hope you and the family are keeping well

Apparently beating a 40 year old that Wlad played with has put Joshua close to greatness..

Got to love it....

Ignoring what the press said, I think he carried Pulev for a bit, just to get some rounds under his belt. No sense in going into a Fury fight with a couple of blow-out rounds done. He's still learning how to do his "new-style" of fighting sensibly rather than his old all-guns-blazing gung-ho attitude.

I think he could have got Pulev out of there by the end of 4, but hey, only AJ knows what's going on in AJ's head. Was he gunshy? Possibly. Was he wanting extra rounds? Probably. Does he have much chance against Fury? Actually yes, I think he does, if he's intelligent enough. Fury gets all this amazing gushing from the press about how he has amazing footwork, head movement etc but he still remains a big lumbering oaf with a fair amount of talent for me.

Joshua may not be the second coming of <insert great heavyweight name here> but neither is Fury. I think Joshua may surprise Fury as he's a better boxer than most give him credit for. I reckon the fight will be closer than some people expect. It's often said on here how chinny AJ is but he's no David Price, and most of his knockdown came in that one fight against Ruiz, someone he hadn't prepared for. Let's not forget that Fury's been floored by a no-name fighter, a cruiserweight, and obviously Wilder, who made it look like he'd been shot by a sniper. This could be a fascinating fight.

Joshua will have to punch up to Fury....Pulev was smaller.

Wlad found when someone else had height and reach advantages and he had to engage without said 'advantages' it was a whole new ballgame....Couldn't control Fury just like the straight punching Sanders who was all wrong for the straight ahead jab and maul.

I agree with Ward...Joshua is special by today's standards whereas Fury could have held his own with fighters past..

Joshua is a bigger version of Bruno...Who in fairness would clean up Chisora...Whyte..Pulev types.

Fury is on a different level.

A lot of this different level nonsense is built on out boxing Wilder who cannot box and relies entirely on eventually landing a wild swing. Barely won a round in four fights against Ortiz and Fury.

Fury is the slight favourite understandably but think AJ wins personally, decent basic skills, a good jab, variation of punches particularly uppercuts and does have a big edge in power.

Built on outboxing Chisora and Wlad too...

Wlad remember him....The guy who didn't land a punch all night and yet until the hail Mary was beating Josh...

Ruiz and Pulev were shorter than AJ...Wlad fought his career with fighters that had to get in his range.

Bit different the other way around..

Just ask Leonard when Hearns boxed his ears off twice..

AJ was ahead on the scorecards in the Wlad fight and landed far more than Fury did for instance.

Joshua also had to punch up to Breazeale. Not sure that's a particularly valid point Truss. I am not sure what you get from bringing up "he's learned from outboxing Chisora": These are your exact words from the Usyk thread:

"There isn't a top heavy that hasn't beaten Chisora easily..."

So really, what you're saying is that Fury's no better than the rest of the fighters to have beaten him - this includes Whyte who you have frequently labelled as being an also-ran if he was in the 80s.

If you're going to start criticising one fighter, apply the same criticism to the other. I think you're giving Joshua an unfair deal here. Fury's had probably 3 or 4 good performances at the top level, and one of those was the stinker against Klitschko. Wlad believed he could beat Joshua so fought accordingly - he didn't know what to do with Fury. Not Joshua's fault - and we got an absolute barnstormer of a fight as a result. Last chance saloon for Wlad and he knew it. Also, if you say Joshua can't adapt, isn't that what happened in Ruiz 2? Lost weight, boxed beautifully from range and made fat Andy chase him all night. Yes in Ruiz 1 he got badly decked but he was looking for the finish and caught one, which screwed his head. He's learned from that. Barely got touched against Pulev. Yes, he was Wlad's sloppy 2nds, but he was the mandatory so had to be dealt with.

Fury's an enigma, a proper one-off. He's unpredictable and has a good boxing brain but all this talk of him being "Amazing" is a bit far-fetched - it's lazy sensational journalism. Amazing heavies do not get decked by the Neven Pajkics or Steve Cunninghams of this world. And great heavies certainly do not punch themselves in the face (I will never tire of watching that clip).

You have your favourite, I have mine. May the better man win on the night, if it ever happens.

Fury has surprised me twice in his fights with Wilder, both of which he won despite what the judges said in the first fight. But if he and Joshua ever fight each other I think A.J. would be clever enough to win, I'm not sure about a knockout though when it looked like it was all over in the third round and Pulev was allowed to recover.