Does Anthony Joshua Have What it Takes to Beat Deontay Wilder?

By Faisal “Fayz” Masood

In the past few weeks, the boxing world has seen its leading two heavyweights participate in battles at the opposing ends of the spectrum.

Anthony Joshua stepped into the ring to face Carlos Takam, a late replacement for Kubrat Pulev who pulled out of the bout due to an injury. Going into the fight, Joshua was the heavyweight divisions poster boy, having knocked out Wladmir Klitschko and officially bringing to an end the era of the Klitschko brothers as Wladmir stepped out of the ring and into retirement.
Expectations were high for the Watford born fighter and Joshua was largely expected to put away his opponent without much difficulty.

The end result though, was very different to what most had envisioned. Takam proved to be a tricky opponent for Joshua as he struggled to get his timing down in the early rounds due to Takam’s head movement and surprising footwork around the ring. Joshua did eventually win the fight via a late stoppage, but Takam’s hard head and iron jaw threw water over Joshua’s vaunted power.

Yes, Joshua earned a technical knockout win but many argued the stoppage was premature and that Takam could have fought on. Having dispatched of Klitschko with a thunderous display of power punching which forced the rest of the division to stand up and take notice, the result of this fight would sit everyone down, cross their arms, fold their legs and wonder to themselves that they just couldn’t help but think that the result was…well just bland and mediocre. Fans were left with that feeling when the dinner you were waiting for just didn’t taste as good as you expected it to. Perhaps the bar had been set so high in Joshua’s previous victory that a performance equally as good and enthralling was impossible.

On the other hand, Deontay Wilder was returning to the ring a week later to fight the only man who had previously managed to last the distance with him, Bermane Stiverne. Whereas Joshua put in a superb performance in his previous fight with Klitschko, Wilder was coming off a victory over Gerald Washington back in February where he looked quite average. The tables would be turned this time around, Joshua looked average in attaining victory but Wilder looked explosive in demolishing Stiverne inside one round, not even having to take a punch in the process. Not bad for a nights work! Well, I say a night, but it was a matter of mere minutes.

So now all of a sudden, everyone wants a piece of Anthony Joshua, convinced he is ripe for the taking after a subpar performance against Carlos Takam. This only reminds one of what happened to Gennady Golovkin after his victory over Kell Brook and then Daniel Jacobs. Suddenly Canelo Avarez and Golden Boy were all over the bout like a hungry hyena on the prowl for its next meal in the Serengeti. We won’t go into the details of that bout here, but the heavyweight division is certainly beginning to resemble that scenario with three boxers already calling Anthony Joshua out for a title clash.

There was Joseph Parker, the WBO Champion from New Zealand and as always Tyson Fury wasn’t far behind. Whereas Fury was the best big man in the sport after his last victory, currently he is not in the required condition to take on Anthony Joshua and neither will he be ready for 6-12months at the very least, that’s if we are being optimistic. Even then, very few men can take 2yrs off from boxing and come back to perform at the same high level. Whether Fury can, remains to be seen.
That leaves the third boxer, none other than Deontay Wilder who has been consistently calling out AJ since his win over Stiverne on the 4th of this month.

This would undoubtedly be the biggest fight the division could offer and would be one of the biggest fights in Boxing. Sure the fights between Golovkin and Canelo, Ward Vs Kovalev, as well as the upcoming fight between Lomachenko and Rigondeaux involve better skilled fighters and better pound for pound fighters, but the world stands still when the top two heavyweights collide for a match up. People come to see big knockouts from big men, nothing draws in fans to boxing like a good heavyweight fight.

Does AJ stand a chance against Wilder? Had you asked just 4 weeks ago, the resounding answer would have been AJ wins hands down (which is pretty much the way Wilder fights, hands down) but all of a sudden Wilder’s thrashing of Stiverne and Joshua’s struggles against Takam has closed the gap and now many consider the fight to be a true 50/50 affair. Is this fight a case of whoever lands the first big shot will win the fight?

What cannot be argued is Deontay Wilder’s hitting power. Wilder is one of the few rare boxer’s in the sport today who can end the fight at any point with a single punch. If you were playing Monopoly, then Deontay Wilder’s one punch knockout power would be the games ‘Get out of Jail’ card. Joshua cannot afford to switch off against Wilder for even a moment because if he does, Wilder could sneak one of those wild swings through and end the fight regardless of how the fight is going, who is on top or whether it is round one or round twelve. “The Bronze Bomber’s” punch is a game changer.

That’s not to say AJ isn’t a big puncher, but surprisingly the man with a perfect knockout record of 20 KO’s in 20 fights comes out second best here, despite AJ being more than two stone heavier than Wilder and possessing a massive punch himself, Wilder is the divisions most explosive hitter.
Both men are also supreme athletes, two of the most gifted athletes in the sport of boxing. You get the feeling if they hadn’t have ended up as boxers, they would probably be successful in another sport. In fact, a little known fact is that AJ broke the school year 9 (ages 13-14) record for the 100m sprint, the previous record was actually held by my brothers school friend Ricardo!

What AJ does have going for him though, is that he is the better technical boxer of the two. I find myself surprised saying this, both boxers appear to be more brawler than boxer but in this case, it is Joshua who is actually the more technically correct of the two. Wilder drops his hands and uses his freakish athletic ability to gain leverage in his shots and is able to incorporate maximum hip rotation in his punches, whereas AJ is far more tighter in his defence and more technical in his shots. He too can generate huge amounts of force in his punches but Joshua does not possess the same elastic recoil and one punch knockout power at any moment that Wilder does.

AJ also has the advantage of being the better defensive boxer and the better counter puncher of the two. There have been questions over AJ’s chin but few would have stayed standing from the punch Klitschko felled AJ with. AJ at least is battle tested, he has shown he can come back from a knock down and win the fight. AJ’s ability to slip shots and counter punch is not to be underestimated, look out especially for AJ slipping the jab and returning with the right and slipping inside and throwing the left hook to the head. If you’re a betting man, there is more chance an 18st Anthony Joshua handles the punch of a 16st Wilder than there is of Wilder handling the punch of an 18st Joshua, and with Wilder’s wide open style when throwing punches, it would only be a matter of time before AJ got one counter shot through. AJ puts together cleaner and more crisper combinations, Wilder is the one who is more explosive and has the killer instinct. If you’re hurt in the ring with Wilder, he is going to make sure he finishes the fight off. Against AJ this could work against him.

There is also the question of resume. Despite Wilder having almost twice as many fights as Joshua, his boxing resume looks thin even after 39 bouts. I would even go as far as to say that Carlos Takam and Dillian Whyte, two victims of Anthony Joshua, would beat anyone on Wilder’s resume. There is also the small matter of Wladmir Klitschko, even at 41yrs old the aging former champion was head and shoulders above anyone Wilder has stepped inside the squared circle with. This ring experience would give AJ the upper hand against Wilder. This is a close fight to call, both men possess knock out power but my money is on Anthony Joshua to win this fight, Wilder has a punchers chance, luckily for him, it’s a helluva punch.

The prospect of a fight looks good for 2018, let’s hope the promoters on both sides are able to work out a deal for the big fight in the near future. If not, then expect Joshua to battle the WBO Champion Joseph Parker before setting his sights on Wilder again. Unless of course the 6’9 giant Tyson Fury plays ‘Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman’ and decides to gatecrash the Heavyweight party of Anthony Joshua with his own rendition of Lord of the Rings III The Return of the King….

Fayz has also published two books available for download on Amazon and also runs his own Personal Training site and blog over at.

Check out his books on Amazon

Strength and Conditioning for Boxing – Workout Hits to get you Fighting Fit

The Boxing Cheat Sheet – Your Ultimate Guide to Ring Survival

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