ANTHONY JOSHUA NOT READY FOR FURY CONTEST

The bout between Joshua and Pulev shows some improvement in the Englishman professional career compared to his escapades with Ruiz Jn in about a year ago. But if he was to meet with fury as speculated later next year, there's more job to do as fury's strength and endurance spirit clearly out weighed the two opponents on Saturday night.

ANTHONY JOSHUA NOT READY FOR FURY CONTEST
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The bout between Joshua and Pulev shows some improvement in the Englishman professional career compared to his escapades with Ruiz Jn in about a year ago. But if he was to meet with fury as sir i later next year, there's more job to do as fury's strength and endurance spirit clearly out weighed the two opponents on Saturday night.

After a tentative start in which Joshua pawed with his jab and negotiated distance, the 6-foot-6 AJ finally made his power felt in Round 3 with a right cross that staggered Pulev. A flurry of combinations from Joshua followed until a right uppercut forced Pulev to turn his back and head for cover in the corner

Although it was clear Joshua, 31, hadn't forgotten about the upset stoppage he suffered to Ruiz before avenging it by decision in December 2019, the British star was able to balance safety with firepower by relying on his big jab and avoiding getting too reckless in going for the finish. A big part of that was how responsible the 39-year-old Pulev was throughout coupled with how much the native of Bulgaria was able to retain the threat of his right hand in order to hang around deep into the fight. 

Unable to finish Pulev, Joshua went back into autopilot and broke his opponent down with the jab, including a bigger focus to the body. Although he rarely took chances, Joshua never put himself in much danger either save for a pair of nice right hands Pulev hit in Round 8 which Joshua took well.  Things finally began to fall apart for good in Round 9 for Pulev as a trio of uppercuts forced him to take a knee to avoid being stopped. After beating the count, Pulev rose and Joshua used his jab to set up a perfect right cross from distance which floored Pulev again and the game was gone.

Joshua was asked afterwards whether he would seek an undisputed championship fight in 2021 against WBC and lineal titleholder Tyson Fury, and the unified titleholder appeared game despite a somewhat cryptic answer. "You ask the crowd what they want to see. I am up for anything," Joshua said. "That's [promoter] Eddie Hearn's job. I started this game in 2013, I have been chasing the belts and fulfilling the mandatories. Of course I want the belts. If that is Tyson Fury, let it be Tyson Fury. There's no big deal. It's on to my next fight, I don't care about anything else. I have to stay focused."

Although, both fury and Joshua have one more mandatory opponent to face first as Joshua is due to fight former cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and Fury owes a fight to the winner of the Alexander Povetkin-Dillian Whyte rematch. There is a possibility one or both fighters could vacate their title to avoid the mandatory opponent, although that would remove the spectacle of Joshua-Fury being an undisputed title fight for all four recognized belts. 

Although, whatever happens, the world will definitely see these boxing great at a time, but the time at which they meet will largely determined the winner either in fury or Joshua, but hopefully Joshua would've gain the mental and more physical recovery needed to win the bout. As it were, Joshua gas out easily and with Fury, this is a bad level of fitness as fury knows how to capitalize on such short comings.

For Joshua to come out victorious against Fury, he needs a more high level mental strength and a means to regas as soon as possible in order not to be caught gassed out by fury, which may ever tuale led to his loss.