By Geoffrey Ciani: Right here we’re in mid-August 2023, and albeit, there has not been an entire lot of motion amongst high heavyweights this yr.
Certainly there has not been a single heavyweight championship bout all yr up to now. The primary (and maybe solely) heavyweight championship struggle of the yr is scheduled for August twenty sixth, when Oleksandr Usyk places his unified IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight championship on the road in opposition to WBA #1 obligatory contender Daniel Dubois.
Making issues worse, the one actually important heavyweight struggle all yr occurred again in April when Massive Bang Zhang defeated Joe Joyce again in April, and people two are scheduled to have a rematch subsequent month in September. In the meantime, former champion Andy Ruiz Jr has not had a struggle since final September when he defeated Luis Ortiz by 12 spherical unanimous determination. And former champion Deontay Wilder has not had a struggle since final October when he stopped Robert Helenius in spherical 1.
Then again, Anthony Joshua has fought twice this yr. In April he received a 12 spherical unanimous determination in opposition to Jermaine Franklin, and this previous weekend Joshua stopped the aforementioned Helenius in spherical 7.
That’s 2 wins in a row for AJ, following ego deflating again to again losses in opposition to Usyk in 2021 and 2022. After dropping his rematch with Usyk, AJ teamed up with new coach Derrick James, and they’re working to fine-tune his model. Joshua was initially scheduled to have a rematch in opposition to Derek Chisora, however after Chisora reportedly examined optimistic for a banned substance, Helenius stepped in on quick discover. That in itself was an uncommon state of affairs, as a result of Helenius had fought only a week earlier the place he received a struggle inside a medieval fort in Finland.
There have been rumors swirling round all yr that Joshua and Wilder would lastly have an extended overdue showdown that ought to have occurred again when the 2 reigned as undefeated heavyweight champions. Though it didn’t occur when it mattered most, it’s nonetheless simply one of the crucial important and attention-grabbing match-ups that may be made in all of heavyweight boxing. The truth that AJ’s late alternative opponent simply so occurred to be the identical man Wilder stopped in his final struggle 10 months in the past – the inevitable comparisons of how Wilder and AJ respectively fared in opposition to Helenius have been inherently constructed into the prospects of the overdue conflict of former champions.
However does the Robert Helenius “Issue” have any actual which means in how a Joshua vs Wilder struggle may play out?
This version of Rummy’s Nook will present ideas on a possible heavyweight showdown between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder, following AJ’s latest seventh spherical knockout victory in opposition to Robert Helenius. That is Rummy’s Nook (produced and narrated by Geoffrey Ciani).
