What excuse does Anthony Joshua have for fighting these cans?

[AliBombaye]

Beterbiev has less fights and has fought better competition, Hearn needs to get him some guys with a pulse at least.

[PainfromUkraine]

Beterbiev has less fights and has fought better competition, Hearn needs to get him some guys with a pulse at least.

What excuse did Wilder have for fighting cans for 99% of his career so far?

This is how you build up a heavyweight, fortunately or unfortunately - you build up the hype...and bare in mind this guy hasn't even got to British title level yet, let alone world level. As Joshua says 'step by step'. These prospects don't have a chance to fail in the early stages of his career. And let's not forget Wilder fought this guy a few fights ago. AJ has been a pro for a little over a year, plus he was coming off an injury here.

[MPX309]

What excuse does Wilder have? he fought him last year 32 fights in.

[FrankieBruno]

Beterbiev has less fights and has fought better competition, Hearn needs to get him some guys with a pulse at least.

eddie herns pocket

i think though he might be fighting kingpin johnson, which is a step up i guess,

[dan_cov]

Beterbiev had 10 times as many amateur fights and British fighters tend to be brought up differently.

[Enzo Mc is SHIT]

Isn't this just a stay busy fight because the Johnson fight is set up for next month?

[dan_cov]

Isn't this just a stay busy fight because the Johnson fight is set up for next month?

Yeah he was also coming off an injury. Perfectly acceptable fight for a 10 fight prospect.

[AliBombaye]

Don't know why you guys are bringing Wilder in to this. My guess would be Wilder was unknown compared to Joshua who is a Olympic Gold Medallist so people didn't care too much about his cans. However Wilder made a HUGE step up and shut down the WBC Champion of the world.

Joshua could beat the likes of Audley Harrison and Dereck Chisora comfortably. He's basically a giant fightings kids right now.

[CANELOLUJAH]

why not bring him up slow? whats the hurry?

[PainfromUkraine]

Don't know why you guys are bringing Wilder in to this. My guess would be Wilder was unknown compared to Joshua who is a Olympic Gold Medallist so people didn't care too much about his cans. However Wilder made a HUGE step up and shut down the WBC Champion of the world.

Joshua could beat the likes of Audley Harrison and Dereck Chisora comfortably. He's basically a giant fightings kids right now.

Wilder is relevant in this conversation because we have someone as a reference point in a similar situation. Which heavyweights do you see fighting top ranked opponents after 10 fights? Joshua won the Gold but it was at home and slightly controversial. Had it not been in London, he might not have won it. Wilder won a Bronze medal in a US Olympic squad where he was the only medallist, so he got a fair amount of hype. And the point is also, Wilder 'shut down the WBC champion' (who was a paper champ anyway with 2 wins over fatboy Arreola) around the 32 fight mark.

Harrison is retired. Fighting Chisora doesn't bring much reward, but it brings too much risk at this point in his career, even though he could probably beat him. While we may not like how slowly top heavy prospects are brought up, this is the way it is...you should know this by now.