Does AJ need to win impressively tomorrow?

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

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 ****** 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.

[Toffee]

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.

[Sparked_26]

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.

[Guest]

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 get knocked out.

In all elite sport really, you are only as good as your last performance.

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"

[El_Mero]

He mos def does. Hopefully it happens.

[Sparked_26]

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.

[deathofaclown]

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.

[Chinned]

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.

[2Shotz]

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.

[_Rexy_]

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.