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We’re now just a couple of days away from Anthony Joshua’s mandatory IBF title defense against challenger Kubrat Pulev, and although Pulev has been talking a lot about the flaws he’s spotted in Joshua’s game, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says all fighters think they spot weaknesses in Joshua until they have to stand across from him inside the ring.
“Everybody says ‘AJ has vulnerabilities’ but when you get in the ring then get a jab, right hand, from Joshua? Everything changes. They look at the Ruiz fight. They might look at the Wladimir Klitschko and Dillian Whyte fights to say ‘he can be hurt.’ But any heavyweight can be hurt. The improvements he is making? You will see them on December 12. You will see a different fighter.”
Hearn says Joshua has admitted that he was still a novice fighter when he fought Wladimir Klitschko, Carlos Takam, and Joseph Parker, but says he’s now a seasoned fighter who’s much more stronger and smarter than he was at that time. If that is indeed the case, we should see a much better performance from Joshua in this outing against the Bulgarian heavyweight.
How to Watch Joshua vs Pulev
Date: Saturday, Dec. 12 | Start Time: 1:00 pm ET
Location: The SSE Arena, Wembley - London, England
Stream: DAZN | TV: Sky Box Office (UK)
Online Coverage: BadLeftHook.com
Speaking for himself, Joshua claims that he’s put a lot of work in honing his craft ever since his loss to Andy Ruiz, and says he completely focused on taking care of business against Pulev before shifting his focus to what would undoubtedly be a huge undisputed heavyweight title match against Tyson Fury.