Two-time unified boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua needs to resurrect his old Mike Tyson reputation if he has any hope of beating Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury.
London light-heavyweight Anthony Yarde, who has bravely lost three world title attempts against monsters Sergey Kovalev, Artur Beterbiev, and David Benavidez, reckons AJ’s best days as a heavyweight bully are behind him.
The 34-year-old believes the only way Joshua can tap back into his best form is to return to the violent KO artist who laid waste to the blue riband division after his London 2012 Olympic gold.
The 36-year-old Watford hulk came face-to-face with Wilder on Saturday night at the O2, and he is rumored to be in talks about finally fighting the Gypsy King before the end of the year.
But Yarde worries one skull-shaking 2017 win was a milestone moment that has damaged Joshua’s career.
On our Split Decision show, when asked who wins the overdue fantasy fight with the Bronze Bomber, Yarde said, “It depends what AJ turns up.
“I don’t think we have seen the same AJ since Klitschko. With AJ, it’s all about decisions.
“At one point in time, AJ was THE man; he was scary to everyone in the heavyweight division.
“When he went in there swinging, he was knocking out and hurting everyone.
“But then we all want to learn to box and defend ourselves better and not get hit.
There’s a massive year of boxing ahead!
It’s shaping up to be a blockbuster year of action inside the boxing ring.
Tyson Fury will make his return in April against Arslanbek Makhmudov while Oleksandr Usyk takes on the king of kickboxing Rico Verhoeven.
Conor Benn is featured for the first time since making the switch to Zuffa Boxing, and Fabio Wardley will defend his newly won heavyweight crown against fellow Brit Daniel Dubois.
Canelo Alvarez will be hoping to return after his defeat to Terence Crawford, and heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk will also defend his straps.
A whole bunch of British stars could also take a leap into superstardom, with the likes of Moses Itauma, Hamzah Sheeraz, and Adam Azim ready to join the very top of the sport.
“But, if he is having two more fights, he just needs to go in there and ‘AJ it.’ ”.
AJ went on soul-searching missions after the iconic Klitschko Wembley win and the Andy Ruiz disaster two years later.
A handful of trainers have been hired and fired, and he has trained everywhere from Dallas to Harlow and is now training alongside Oleksandr Usyk in Spain.
And Yarde reckons the only way he wins the last two career-defining fights that his record still needs is to emulate the Baddest Man on the Planet.
He said, “If he goes like Mike Tyson, then I think he takes Wilder out, but if he tries to box, then he is open for a potential surprise right hand.
“Even with Fury, in my opinion, you don’t want to box with Fury. But if he gets back to being that dog, then I think he could do it.
“I know AJ and, like me, he likes taking on criticism; sometimes you need to hear it and realise it for yourself.
“He’s got thousands of people around him, saying different things.
“But, for me, the most dangerous AJ is the one who puts his head down and tries to take a man out with mean intentions, take a man’s head off.”
Packaged by Lanre Olabisi
