During the early stages of Joshua’s professional career, he was one of the most exciting (and powerful) heavyweights in the world, but he is now taking a more conservative approach.
Joshua is coming off wins over Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius.
Before these two victories, he had lost 3 of his previous 5 matches.
The Englishman suffered a shock first defeat on his US debut to Andy Ruiz Jr before being outclassed by Oleksandr Usyk in back-to-back matches.
Arguably the best victory of his career was against Klitschko, whose form was not good when they faced each other at Wembley Stadium in 2017.
Joshua and Klitschko were both injured in this classic fight, but the Briton surprisingly stopped the Ukrainian in round 11.
Booth – former trainer of David Haye and George Groves – believes Joshua’s fight with Klitschko may have made him a “better fighter with an instinct for self-preservation”.
“Is AJ shy after his fight with Wladimir Klitschko, or is he a better fighter with self-preservation instincts?
» Booth spoke via Up Front with Simon Jordan.
“Klitschko eliminated by Corey Sanders, returns as better winner but less exciting as his main concern is not getting eliminated while winning.
” Booth also pointed out that it is a “terrifying experience” to “be knocked unconscious or concussed during a fight” and that Joshua may have experienced it after the Klitschko fight.
“Anyone who has ever been knocked unconscious or concussed in a fight knows what that feels like, and it’s a terrifying experience like no one has ever witnessed,” Booth added.
“So if you don’t know how badly Klitschko was injured after that win – did he have a concussion?
Did he vomit that night from a severe headache and confusion and was on the verge of a concussion and thought, “I don’t want that to happen again?
” “After the concussion, people said ‘I’ll be a little more understanding here, make sure I don’t get hit, I don’t need to have a war, why should there be a war?
‘ » ‘ “I think most fighters go there saying, ‘I’m ready to win, but I’m not ready to die over it or do damage to myself.
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