Every Thursday, right here at FightHype.com, boxing fans gather around my bulbous, bulging sack and marvel at the magnificent load of gooey, salty truth that I call into action– and this Thursday is no different. This week, we have comments/questions regarding Anthony Joshua’s rebound, Shakur Stevenson’s emergence, and Naoya Inoue’s slowed roll.
AJ’s Rebound/Shakur’s Path
Hi Paul
Hope this email finds you and your family ok…A couple of questions for this week.
1- I’ve always enjoyed redemption on fighters and even though I believe Usyk completely outclassed Joshua, part of me wants to see him regain his titles. Can this be done? I am not sure. He recently visited Eddy Reynoso, Ronnie Shields, Robert Garcia and Virgil Hunter. I don’t believe any of them can take him where he needs to be. [The] first person that came to my mind was Freddie Roach because he might be able to do what he did to Cotto, but I cant see that happening because he is old. I would have to lean over Eddy Reynoso out of those guys because he can bring in Andy Ruiz to sparring sessions to help him overcome what he lost by fighting his fears.
2- Shakur Stevenson…I was impressed, he looked like a diminished version of the 130s Floyd. [It’s] still too early to tell as Herring was a little bit offensive shy. Too bad Top Rank is preventing him from fighting Valdez, but if they do feed him to Lomachenko I would be happy. Any thoughts on both of these matchups?
Regards
— Miguel
Hey Miguel.
Thanks for writing. I’ll tackle these in order.
1. One guy who I think COULD’VE helped Joshua was Sugar Hill Steward, who brings with him the Emanuel Steward/Kronk recipe for maximizing the efficiency of tall, long fighters. But, of course, Sugar Hill did to Tyson Fury what he might’ve done with Joshua. Realistically, though, I think Joshua’s primary problems are with motivation and focus more than style and technique. If a fighter can’t get his head into the game, training him to do anything is pointless. AJ has been talking real big recently, chatting up the fire he has for the Usyk rematch. But, talk is talk. We’ve seen him go out with a whimper– twice already– and pretty much play the smiling cuck as his conquerors walk out of the ring with his belts. He’ll remain a high-end presence in the division because of his tremendous physical gifts and because of the money he can still generate and it’s certainly within his abilities to batter Usyk into submission in a rematch. But how do you keep fires burning when there’s no wood in the furnace? No trainer can help him with that. He has to find that fire all by himself.
2. Honestly, I think Shakur beats Lomachenko and if he fights Vasiliy with the same fire he had against Herring, he could win in surprisingly easy fashion. I think he’s potentially THAT good. I think any version of him would shut Valdez out. The only limitations I see with Shakur are those brought about by his approach to the boxing business and to the doldrums brought about by promoter Bob Arum’s affinity for endless soft touches in demotivational second-tier squash showcases. A kid like Stevenson needs challenges and he needs to stay busy. He needs to be kept sharp and always a bit hungry, with a bit of a chip on his shoulder about proving himself. We’ll just have to see how bright that ambition in his belly for world conquest is. He’s got the goods to be a generational elite, but he’s really just starting on that path.
The Monster Mush?
Hey there,
I’ll keep it short. Is Bob Arum going to lead Naoya Inoue into a Crawford situation? Why this super talented bantamweight, who even at the very start of his professional career took on boxers more experienced than himself and at least seemingly was willing to fight anybody later on, is all of a sudden going to share a ring with somebody called Aran Dipaen, after having gone through “the real test in” Michael Dasmarinas….?
Thank you Sir, and all the best to you,
— Oliver
Hey Oliver.
Yeah, I also noticed the nosedive in fierce matchmaking that went along with him “coming to America” under the supervision of Bob Arum. What I said about Shakur Stevenson above also applies to Inoue. “Arum’s affinity for endless soft touches in demotivational second-tier squash showcases” could be the death of that fire in his belly. It takes a guy who’s been running through tough obstacles with relative ease and atrophies his entire game by facilitating half-efforts against no-hopers. If you’ve been a boxing fan long enough, you can probably bring up many examples of talented fighters who became all-around diminished because they were made into bottom-feeders. At the very least, the soft-touches rob the fans of exciting legacy-defining fights for a guy who’s more than capable of taking them.
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