Anthony Joshua has been accused of being tentative up until his knockout of Robert Helenius, and promoter Frank Warren thinks those booing inside the arena during the “boring” fight were right to do so.
Helenius was a late stand-in replacement for Joshua, who is still continuing to build a relationship with his new coach Derrick James.
He seemed cautious during the first six rounds of the fight, keeping it long and not throwing too many combinations. During the third round, with both men circling around each other, boos could be heard echoing around London’s O2 Arena.
Some have said it was fans sharing their disappointment at Helenius’ lack of engagement, while others reckon it was a show of discontent at Joshua’s own reticence to be aggressive. Perhaps it was a reaction to the extremely late main event start time.
Whatever it was, Joshua eventually stepped in with a big right hand in the seventh round to end the fight there and then. Speaking to Boxing Social, Warren reacted to the performance.
“Well, I thought it was pretty boring up until the knockout. I agree with the crowd who were booing. It was a bore, it was a bore up until then.
He caught him with a big shot but let’s get it right, he’s a guy who’s got a big punch and the other guy when he fights at that level he normally gets knocked out.
I know it was a last-minute sub but I don’t read anything into it. We’ve not learned any more about AJ coming out of that than we knew going into it.”
Next up for Joshua is most likely to be a highly-anticipated fight with American knockout artist Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia at the start of 2024. He was asked whether that was the right choice for Joshua.
“It’s their choice, it’s nothing to do with me. I always question a fighter, especially an experienced fighter, why he doesn’t want to step back in with a world title fight which he had the offer from Tyson [Fury]. But let them get on with it.”