Does AJ need to win impressively tomorrow?

Yes. He ain't gonna get such a weak opponent in the near future when he defends his next titles or fights Fury or Wilder. It would help his career a great deal if he can KO Pulev in the first round, which I think any elite HW can go at this stage. Most casuals or even those that are somewhat into boxing probably won't be watching this. Thus, it needs to make headlines the next day to gain attention. For instance, since the fight won't be at a convenient time for me, I most probably will skip it even though I can watch it for free.

Need? He SHOULD win impressively tomorrow

Oh I wouldn't say that. The first Ruiz fight was VERY exciting. Fair point. :lol1:

Six years ago, Klitschko played with him and dropped him four times in five rounds. If Pulev wins a single round, AJ should feel bad about himself.

Seems he hasn’t had an impressive or even exciting performance in a while. I think he should run though Pulev so this could be the perfect opportunity to make a bit of a statement, especially to the casual fans who may be losing interest. Oh I wouldn't say that. The first Ruiz fight was VERY exciting.

AJ needs a good win. His rematch w Ruiz wasn’t as impressive as everyone seems to think. Ruiz had ate himself out of the fight before the opening bell & Joshua played it ultra conservative not taking any chances and still having a few shaky moments where he was visibly nervous. Yeah. He needs a statement.

he doesn't really need it. The Fury fight is there for him and will still be huge even if it's a dull fight tomorrow. I think there are times in a career where someone has to look good and this isn't really it. He just needs to win.

It doesn’t really matter how he wins this fight People just want him to get through it and get the Fury fight on. Even if AJ wins by a split decision robbery, 99% won’t care once the Fury fight is a done deal. I guess the only thing is if Joshua looked really shaky, got dropped etc but still won, would it affect the anticipation for the Fury fight? Maybe to some boxing fans but I still think 99% won’t care when that fight gets confirmed So It makes no difference how he wins because people only care about the fight after anyway. I suppose if he doesn’t look great, it probably makes him even more of an underdog v Fury.

Yeah, the Brits will watch for sure, but a highlight-reel knockout that goes viral on YouTube will get plenty of casual Americans interested even if they do screw up the names such as the NBA announcer who called him "Anthony Johnson" 100% Yeah I wasnt really thinking about Americans but yeah for sure. 1. Because I doubt many yanks outside of hardcore boxing fans will even know it's on. Even then not even all of you guys will watch it I'm guessing. 2. The American casual fan is only gonna see any of this if he irons Pulev out and puts him out on his face.

He mos def does. Hopefully it happens.

I think AJ needs to win impressively by knockout for his own psyche. Casual fans will sell out stadiums as long as he's the champ even if he won a closish dull decision. But I would guess the feeling among even casual fans will be that Fury is the better man before they fight which would kill the energy for the fight a touch. Not loads mind. We will never have 2 Brits fighting for the undisputed heavyweight title again! But... Fury will have battered Wilder like a ginger step son and AJ will have boxed safely past two opponents indicating a style change since getting knocked out casuals will notice that. In all elite sport really, you are only as good as your last performance.

Doesn't matter. When you get to this level an easy win doesn't impress - the opponent's quality gets questioned. A hard fought win and people will say he went life and death with an old man. The only important thing to do is win. Impressive wins get you enough value to get into title fights. After that you just need to stay there until the defining fights come along. However he beats Pulev, there'll still be demand for the Undisputed fight. Lose and it's gone.

I wonder how many casual fans will watch this fight. Though UK fans tend to support their man, so maybe a lot will. I just don't see there will be much interest in the U.S as Pulev just appears to be some random Bulgarian whose claim to fame is kissing a tranny reporter. There seems a lot less interest from my perspective. A lot of my friends are casuals and most have now kind of seen through the AJ marketing machine after the Ruiz loss and negative performance in the rematch. Only one of them have even mentioned this fight to me this week.

He needs to look good. I actually liked the way he boxed in the the last Ruiz fight. Didn’t push his punches and boxed nicely. If he looks so so in this fight then I think he may have lost something.

Assuming all other obstacles sort themselves out, I think he can just get away with winning however and still get the Fury fight next. Obviously winning in an exciting manner is the best thing for hype, though. Yeah that fight is huge regardless.

Does he? Depends who you are. Personally I'm not convinced he's isn't the same quitter who got mauled by Ruiz jr. We haven't seen him in true adversity since, so look for Pulev to press him, otherwise AJ will probably box safely. No matter how he looks though, Fury will ruin him, Fury becoming undisputed is only a matter of time. I was talking more in terms of regaining support from the casual fan.

Assuming all other obstacles sort themselves out, I think he can just get away with winning however and still get the Fury fight next. Obviously winning in an exciting manner is the best thing for hype, though.

I would think so. I totally forgot he was fighting this weekend.

Seems he hasn’t had an impressive or even exciting performance in a while. I think he should run though Pulev so this could be the perfect opportunity to make a bit of a statement, especially to the casual fans who may be losing interest. Does he? Depends who you are. Personally I'm not convinced he's isn't the same quitter who got mauled by Ruiz jr. We haven't seen him in true adversity since, so look for Pulev to press him, otherwise AJ will probably box safely. No matter how he looks though, Fury will ruin him, Fury becoming undisputed is only a matter of time.

Most defiantley for winning is 1 thing winning impressive is another and honestly AJ needs to dominate whole fight with a knockdown involved and or straight up knock pulev out for Gotts see that to help build more hype up for Aj vs fury equally important sway more fans betting lines and media in your favor . Aj gotta beat pulev similar to how klitschko did or better