By Eóin Kennedy
Saturday night was very a consequential one in the world of boxing. Daniel Dubois solidified his IBF world heavyweight championship status with a knock-out of the year contender against Anthony Joshua, while Joshua Buatsi positioned himself to face the winner of next month’s undisputed light-heavyweight world-title showdown between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. There were different results for Anthony Joshua and Joshua Buatsi on Saturday and now both Englishmen must carefully choose their next moves.
What Next for Anthony Joshua?
In the aftermath of all the chaos in Wembley Stadium on Saturday night, Eddie Hearn was quick to inform us that Anthony Joshua did have a rematch clause built into his contract with Daniel Dubois and now that all is said and done in fight number one, Joshua must decide whether or not we will see a fight number two. Joshua has quite a few decisions to make; is he hungry enough to continue? Is he good enough to beat any of the top heavyweights anymore? If he does continue to fight, well then, another decision is, does he opt to persevere with Ben Davison as his coach? The last question is something that must seriously be pondered. Joshua has had four different coaches (five if you count Angel Fernandez) over the course of the last three years, which is a timeframe that has spanned seven fights and, in that period, instead of watching a fighter improving and adopting different techniques, we have witnessed a once highly destructive knock-out specialist look overly methodical and deliberate in his approach to boxing. Joshua hasn’t truly fought on instinct since his loss to Andy Ruiz back in 2019, and despite flashes of his old self shining through against Francis Ngannou and Otto Wallin, the truth is those fights were false dawns. Ngannou is a mixed martial arts fighter and Wallin is a good, but unspectacular, journeyman heavyweight boxer. Both have been attributed inflated reputations within the boxing world due to their respective surprisingly close fights with Tyson Fury. But those fights say more about Fury than they do about Ngannou and Wallin.
Since splitting with long time coach, Robert McCracken, back in 2021, Anthony Joshua has teamed up with Robert Garcia, Derek James and now Davison, but the pursuit of a third world championship has proven fruitless. Davison is a young trainer that made his name quickly in boxing after spearheading Fury’s return to the sport, but the Joshua assignment doesn’t seem like the right fit. Davison prefers back foot boxing with an emphasis on counter punching. That’s fine for Billy Joe Saunders but not for Joshua, a man that was once a feared wrecking-ball within the heavyweight division. Joshua needs simple tactics where he can focus on his own strong attributes rather than trying to be some heavyweight renaissance man that can suddenly thrive as a counter puncher – forget about it, it’s never going to happen. The Dubois fight is another which can be filed under ‘Joshua Not Looking Like He was Comfortable with the Tactics’. It’s too late for Joshua to become a fighter that can attempt to do anything other than come forward behind a strong jab and hope to push his opponents back and ultimately try to follow up with a knock-out right hand. If Joshua does decide to trigger the rematch clause with Daniel Dubois, maybe he should go back to the start and give his old mentor, Robert McCracken, a call.
The Time Is Now For Buatsi
Anthony Joshua wasn’t the only former British Olympic medalist fighting on home soil on Saturday, his former Team GB comrade, Joshua Buatsi, also had an important fight and was able to come through a tricky assignment successfully. It has seemed like Buatsi has been on the verge of challenging for top honors in the light-heavyweight division forever and his victory over Willy Hutchinson on Saturday puts him at the front of the queue once more. But Buatsi may have to wait a little longer for his long-awaited crack at world glory. Next month, Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev face off in an undisputed world title fight at light-heavyweight, which seems like perfect scheduling for Buatsi’s timeline, but don’t be surprised if the two Eastern Europeans have their own rematch clauses built into their contracts. If so, Buatsi can either wait on the sidelines or stay busy, with the latter being a favorable option. Buatsi has been on a domestic demolition tour in recent years, defeating fellow Brits Craig Richards, Dan Azeez and Hutchinson all since 2022.
Should Buatsi have to wait for the Bivol-Beterbiev rivalry to play out, another domestic scrap against Anthony Yarde would be a fight the fans would be more than happy to see if forced to wait a little longer for the world title shot to materialize. Would Buatsi deem that fight too risky while he has mandatory challenger status with the WBO? Probably, but let’s wait and see. Unlike his friend and former amateur teammate, Anthony Joshua, Buatsi has treated his career as a marathon and not a sprint, but as far as the massive fights are concerned, it does feel like the time as come for Buatsi to accept them. Tune-up’s and stepping stones fights have their place in boxing, but Buatsi must take the next step and he must take it soon. Next time out we need to see the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist in the ring with Bivol, Beterbiev or Yarde. No other opponent would suffice at this point. Except David Benavidez I suppose, he is now a light heavyweight, but don’t expect that one to happen.