YOU have to be pretty clumsy to slip on a banana skin.
Yet that’s exactly what Anthony Joshua did in New York 18 months ago and it cost him his world heavyweight titles.
Anthony Joshua will be cautious against Kubrat Pulev as he looks to avoid a repeat of his infamous loss to Andy Ruiz JrCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Because he wasn’t looking where he was going in the Madison Square Garden ring, Andy Ruiz Jr — a 25-1 roly-poly no-hoper — floored him four times before stopping him in the seventh round.
So far it’s the biggest boxing upset we have seen this century.
At least AJ redeemed himself by regaining his WBA, IBF and WBO belts with an ultra- cautious points win in the rematch with Ruiz in Saudi Arabia six months later.
Joshua, 31, is well aware he daren’t risk the embarrassment of treading on anything else slippery when he defends against bulky Bulgarian mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev at Wembley Arena, tomorrow night.
If he should get careless and suffer another disastrous defeat he can kiss goodbye to the mega-millions he would earn in a unification domestic dust-up with WBC champion Tyson Fury the nation has set its heart on seeing in the spring.
Pulev is a far more accomplished all-round fighter than Ruiz but Joshua is still an overwhelming 1-8 favourite expected to pulverise Pulev with a flourish.
And Pulev is far from an easy touch and he is certainly not a Sofia-softy. He is a typical dour plodding product of the Eastern European coaching system.
He is teak-tough, uncompromising and technically correct.
But watching him in action is about as exhilarating as an evening on the town with gloomy Covid-19 scientists Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance.
Cagey Kubrat has a good defence and has lost just one of his 29 fights.
That was six years and eight winning fights ago, when Wladimir Klitschko put him down three times before knocking him out in the fifth round.
Pulev, remarkably fit for a man in his 40th year, was an accomplished medal-winning amateur and he did not bother to turn pro until he was 28.
There is nothing in his record to suggest Joshua has any cause for concern.
He just managed to get home with a split points decision over Derek Chisora when they met in Hamburg in 2016.
Joshua is very much faster than Chisora and carries tremendous power in both hands.
His 1,000 fans allowed at ringside will no doubt be very disappointed if he does not KO Pulev.
Dereck Chisora discovered Pulev is not a man to be underestimatedCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Joshua knows he can’t afford another defeat amid talks of a unification fight with Tyson FuryCredit: Reuters
AJ has tried to convince everyone what happened in his first fight with Ruiz is buried in the recesses of his mind.
I don’t believe it. He wouldn’t be human if it isn’t uppermost in his thoughts as he stands waiting for the opening bell.
He knows full well, with so much at stake next year, a similar mistake would have dire consequences for the future.
A Fury-Joe Joyce or a Fury-Pulev clash somehow hasn’t got the same spine-tingling expectation.
Joshua now understands he is far from invincible and it would be foolish if his game-plan isn’t more guarded than gung-ho.
It will make for a dull fight but I expect him to be prudent and box sensibly behind his left jab and settle for a comfortable points victory like he did in the Ruiz return.
If Pulev should destroy our dreams for 2021 and beat him, he will knock football idol Hristo Stoichkov, Barcelona superstar of the 1990s, off his pedestal and become Bulgaria’s greatest-ever sportsman.
AJ, an articulate and intelligent guy, if he doesn’t know it already, should be conscious of the old saying: “Beware the one who has nothing to lose.”
Anthony Joshua believes a harsh 2019 toughened him up for Kubrat Pulev battle
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
