By: Sean Crose
It would be the biggest upset in the history of boxing – yes, even bigger than James “Buster” Douglas’ victory over Mike Tyson over thirty years ago. Still the chances of Jake Paul defeating former world titleist Anthony Joshua Friday night are beyond slim. Truth be told Joshua is bigger, stronger and likely faster than his brash American opponent. And lets not even get started on experience. Joshua has faced a who’s who of contemporary heavyweights, and has only lost on a few occasions. Paul, on the other hand, recently beat Julio Cesar Chavez’ less than impressive son. Yet this is still boxing, a sport where pretty much anything can happen and oftentimes does. Paul may not stand much of a chance against Joshua, but there always is that slim possibility.
Paul, a limited, but not half bad fighter, holds his left low, knows how to follow up on his punches, works hard to maintain distance, and knows to work the body when the opportunity arises. With that in mind, Paul is not particularly fast, is flat footed, and generally lacks the crispness of a top level fighter. Joshua, on the other gloved fist, knows how to come forward with his long reach and to attack relentlessly. On top of that, the fighter known as AJ, can measure a shot like the best of them.
And when he hits, Joshua hits hard, frighteningly hard. Just ask Francis Ngannou, an MMA star turned novelty boxer, and many, many others. It’s hard not to imagine Joshua measuring Paul on Friday, then firing a missile over the young man’s low guard, a missile that sends Paul crashing to the mat. How would Paul be after that even if he did somehow manage to get up? It might then be a matter of when rather than if Joshua would notch another knockout onto his resume. There is however one scenario that could be a wild card come Friday
Joshua’s last fight went down a year ago against Daniel Dubois. Needless to say, the results weren’t pretty for Joshua’s fans. Dubois put the towering Englishman down on several occasions before finally finishing him off in the fifth round. Joshua looked absolutely terrible, a mere shell of himself during his Glory Days. Of course Joshua should be able to overcome the memory of that painful loss on Friday, but it was a bad loss nonetheless, and one really never knows. If Paul were to win, it would be a horrible blotch on Joshua’s otherwise stellar career.
