Perhaps, just perhaps, the search for the so-called vintage Joshua needs to be called off; perhaps this far more sensible version is now the permanent new Joshua. Joshua talked about building the foundation and, if there were any positives from Saturday night’s fight, it has to be said that he kept his shape, kept his head, controlled the fight’s pace and flow.
“It was the start,” said Derrick James, the new man in Joshua’s corner. James runs a gym of real champions in Dallas and he clearly considered the fight a step, a stage in the construction of a new Joshua; not a fight in search of the old swashbuckling fighter. The fight seen through his eyes is a very different fight to one most people wanted. In the post-fight interviews, his voice was the lone voice of celebration. And perhaps that is telling, perhaps we all expect too much of Joshua. And that includes the man himself.
Anthony Joshua with his new coach Derrick James
It was Joshua’s first win in three fights, only his second win in three years and it has been a long, long time since the Joshua we crave dominated a fight and finished it early; in December 2016, Joshua stopped Eric Molina in three easy rounds. It was called a mismatch at the time, but on Saturday night it would have been celebrated. Boxing is never easy, it seldom makes sense.
The talk before the fight was that the Tyson Fury bout was on the horizon; there was a half-hearted attempt late on Saturday to begin the spin for that most reluctant of encounters. James, however, talked of “building”. Eddie Hearn, the promoter, talked of “looking at all the options”. It is clear that a Fury fight is an option, a genuine option, but in modern heavyweight boxing that is a flimsy proposal. Fury and Joshua has been on the agenda behind closed doors for about eight years and it has been close to signed and sealed three times. It is boxing’s sorry saga.
Joshua won 118-111, 117-111, 117-111 on the judges’ scorecards
There is also the very real possibility of a belated rematch with Dillian Whyte, who was ringside. Whyte and Joshua met as amateurs, clashed in gyms, met as pros in the O2 ring in 2015 when Joshua got revenge. “I’ve been ignored ever since,” insisted Whyte. There was no pantomime from anybody at the end of Saturday’s fight. It was simply not that type of night and fight.
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It will be too easy to be heavily critical of Joshua in the coming days, to highlight the cautious approach and ignore the boxer’s own raw assessment. It was, obviously, not his best, but perhaps it was the start of the new Joshua under the guidance of James. The hunt for the vintage bruiser is over; this is the 2023 version of Joshua, and it will not please everybody.
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