Comments Thread For: Anthony Joshua-Charles Martin in Serious Talks, Says Hearn

[Fury4daWIN]

I like Parker too, my post wasn't ****ing on him really just the people talking him up as if he is ready for the big time or that he is being ducked. He isn't ready for the big guys yet imo and his team don't have deep pockets like Matchroom so they really don't have much going for them atm. But time is on his side so no need to rush.

I absolutely think he's ready for the big time, or rather they need to start taking the training wheels off and get him fighting some recognisable names, not Pulev or Povetkin or anyone like that, but solid top twenty guys. He's not fighting anyone remotely near his level at the moment and it's hurting his development and letting bad habits creep in. He needs to be getting challenged, going rounds, getting hurt if need be. No one's going to think any the less of him if he doesn't take out everyone he's fighting in the first couple of rounds. I won't at least.

The danger of letting him pad his record fighting bums because he's still young is that he'll never get the sort of quality experience building needed in a champion's early development. It's going to build up a false sense of confidence and engrain any flaws he might have to the point where they start to become second nature. Then, when he inevitably does make the step up, he'll be exposing himself to all sorts of rude awakenings which, depending on how long he's allowed the rot to seep in, he may never be able to recover from.

[BodiesInFlight]

I absolutely think he's ready for the big time, or rather they need to start taking the training wheels off and get him fighting some recognisable names, not Pulev or Povetkin or anyone like that, but solid top twenty guys. He's not fighting anyone remotely near his level at the moment and it's hurting his development and letting bad habits creep in. He needs to be getting challenged, going rounds, getting hurt if need be. No one's going to think any the less of him if he doesn't take out everyone he's fighting in the first couple of rounds. I won't at least.

The danger of letting him pad his record fighting bums because he's still young is that he'll never get the sort of quality experience building needed in a champion's early development. It's going to build up a false sense of confidence and engrain any flaws he might have to the point where they start to become second nature. Then, when he inevitably does make the step up, he'll be exposing himself to all sorts of rude awakenings which, depending on how long he's allowed the rot to seep in, he may never be able to recover from.

I hear ya, i can't really disagree with you here. I haven't watched Parker extensively like i have AJ, but the couple of fights i have seen of him he seems very raw, so that would be my only hesitation, but i guess with that level of opposition it's easy to be a bit careless.

Being fed bums can definitely be a bad thing. David Price is always the go to example here.

Hopefully all these guys in the HW will soon be battling it out. There are some cracking fights to be made within the next year or so.

[ИATAS]

I think this is pretty lame by Hearn. I don't doubt Anthony Joshua can beat Martin at all, but why rush Joshua into becoming a champion already? He's clearly still progressing as a fighter and needs time/experience to become an elite fighter, so why put him into a position where he will potentially be "champion" while still needing to progress as a fighter?

Being champion is not without it's obligations. There are mandatories (this is the IBF after all who have proved they don't play around (ask Tyson Fury)). There is public perception (fans/media demand champions fight high caliber opponents, not tune ups & weak opponents, which Joshua is probably going to still need to develop).

I'd much rather see Joshua continue to progress in non-title fights, get the experience he needs and when he's ready fight for a championship. He's a big star already in the UK so it's not like he needs to win a title now for recognition.

[Fetta]

Dont know much about either but hope it happens

[mlac]

I think this is pretty lame by Hearn. I don't doubt Anthony Joshua can beat Martin at all, but why rush Joshua into becoming a champion already? He's clearly still progressing as a fighter and needs time/experience to become an elite fighter, so why put him into a position where he will potentially be "champion" while still needing to progress as a fighter?

Being champion is not without it's obligations. There are mandatories (this is the IBF after all who have proved they don't play around (ask Tyson Fury)). There is public perception (fans/media demand champions fight high caliber opponents, not tune ups & weak opponents, which Joshua is probably going to still need to develop).

I'd much rather see Joshua continue to progress in non-title fights, get the experience he needs and when he's ready fight for a championship. He's a big star already in the UK so it's not like he needs to win a title now for recognition.

i thought this, then i thought f it, there's never been a better opportunity to become world champ.
it's not like he will face to face a killer as his first/2nd defence either so can have tune ups to face his mandatory next year.

[Fury4daWIN]

I hear ya, i can't really disagree with you here. I haven't watched Parker extensively like i have AJ, but the couple of fights i have seen of him he seems very raw, so that would be my only hesitation, but i guess with that level of opposition it's easy to be a bit careless.

Being fed bums can definitely be a bad thing. David Price is always the go to example here.

Hopefully all these guys in the HW will soon be battling it out. There are some cracking fights to be made within the next year or so.

Parker's been very reckless in his last couple of fights. He was actually much more controlled early on, fought behind the jab, set up shots to body and head, measured his opponents before taking them out with crisp, well timed shots. It was those skills that sold me on him in the first place, and let me know he wasn't just another crude slugger with a bit of speed and pop.

I fear that at the moment he's being pushed too much as a knockout puncher, which might build him great success among the NZ casuals but will mean he'll be steered away from anyone who he might struggle with. I hope that isn't the case and they start putting him in with real challenges, instead of building up this false image of a vicious killer that everyone is avoiding. He's a damned good fighter, but he still needs seasoning, and that means putting him in situations where he won't look a million bucks.

Parker's such an attack oriented fighter that he'll never be totally at ease in the ring, but he needs to get back that patience and control that's lacking now. This is a critical stage in his development and he needs to start going down the right path, not quick crowd pleasing knockovers, but tough character building fights against progressively harder opponents. He may be young now, but he's at a correspondingly advanced stage to a lot of older fighters and needs to be guided accordingly. In a sport as volatile as boxing he doesn't have time to waste.

[The plunger man]

Funny. Now, not only is Matchroom going to pay out $2m(or more) to Charles Martin, they'll also stack the card with other marketable fights? lol

Now you're assuming that over $2m will be made on the international rights (double what Froch-Groves II got), and 150 British pounds as the price of the average ticket (double what the average price of what was picked up for Froch-Goves II)?

When you're in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging:

-Sky Sports is rumored to take 40% off of the PPV, taking Matchroom's take down to 5m British pounds. Add that to your rosy projections and you only get to 10m.

-The cost to rent the O2 Arena is likely about in line with what the cost for Wembley were, or half a million British pounds.
-4m British pounds to Joshua, 1.5m British pounds to Martin, cost of the venue, costs for the undercard fighters, and the costs or delivering the rest of the show, leaves Matchroom deeply in the red.

logic is a heckova thing

I don't care all I know is if Joshua got 4 million in his last fight at the 02 against Whyte and the card was stacked and this will sell more PPV then there's enough money for martins 2 million dollars....but any way what the f@ck has it got to do with you or even me if they make this fight and they pay him that.....it's no concern of yours what they pay or don't pay...so stop stressing out over it and I for one if this fight happens I will be more than happy .....who said Joshua gets £4 million this time lol...if I was Joshua I would give Martin £ 1 million of my purse to get the fight done after I still would make £ 3 million lol...why are you so worried if Joshua gets the IBF world title shot anyway lol

[Scipio2009]

I don't care all I know is if Joshua got 4 million in his last fight at the 02 against Whyte and the card was stacked and this will sell more PPV then there's enough money for martins 2 million dollars....but any way what the f@ck has it got to do with you or even me if they make this fight and they pay him that.....it's no concern of yours what they pay or don't pay...so stop stressing out over it and I for one if this fight happens I will be more than happy .....who said Joshua gets £4 million this time lol...if I was Joshua I would give Martin £ 1 million of my purse to get the fight done after I still would make £ 3 million lol...why are you so worried if Joshua gets the IBF world title shot anyway lol

lol. How much money do you honestly believe Dillian Whyte was paid to fight Anthony Joshua?

The numbers, simply put, don't make sense; you can ignore that reality if you want, but wishful thinking won't change the fact that increasing the cost of the fight card by a million British pounds, for a fighter who basically tripped over himself to become champion is a ******ed business move, however you cut it. If the asking price comes down, we'll see.

Again, why would Joshua give up 1m British pounds when he could fight a solid guy for a fifth of that, still end up as the top challenger to three of the four heavyweight titles, and still have the option to take the fight to purse bid (no different than what Golden Boy did to n'Dam) and not give over any of his own UK money?

There's no "worry" about Joshua getting a title shot; he's basically locked in to get his first crack within his next 3-4 fights. The issue is that you seem to have such a hard-on over picking up a paper title, that you're seemingly advocating "to hell with doing proper business; get the fight".

You're thinking is almost as foolish as K2, after flopping in their PPV debut, asking for a 60/40 split on the Canelo fight, when their mandatory status only being good for a 25/75 split on a purse bid.

[techliam]

I think this is pretty lame by Hearn. I don't doubt Anthony Joshua can beat Martin at all, but why rush Joshua into becoming a champion already? He's clearly still progressing as a fighter and needs time/experience to become an elite fighter, so why put him into a position where he will potentially be "champion" while still needing to progress as a fighter?

Being champion is not without it's obligations. There are mandatories (this is the IBF after all who have proved they don't play around (ask Tyson Fury)). There is public perception (fans/media demand champions fight high caliber opponents, not tune ups & weak opponents, which Joshua is probably going to still need to develop).

I'd much rather see Joshua continue to progress in non-title fights, get the experience he needs and when he's ready fight for a championship. He's a big star already in the UK so it's not like he needs to win a title now for recognition.

I hear ya. However, we all know the route Hearn and Joshua are heading. Its all for the eventual Sky PPV money. Getting him a (likely) easy world title only helps this cause. Joshua-Chisora for a world title, Hearn will milk it. You have Haye on the sidelines also, with Fury a wild-card.

Lets hope Joshua's trajectory is upwards only however, unlike Wilder's who's reputation has taken a massive hit recently with sub-par showings against sub-par opposition.

[techliam]

lol. How much money do you honestly believe Dillian Whyte was paid to fight Anthony Joshua?

The numbers, simply put, don't make sense; you can ignore that reality if you want, but wishful thinking won't change the fact that increasing the cost of the fight card by a million British pounds, for a fighter who basically tripped over himself to become champion is a ******ed business move, however you cut it. If the asking price comes down, we'll see.

Again, why would Joshua give up 1m British pounds when he could fight a solid guy for a fifth of that, still end up as the top challenger to three of the four heavyweight titles, and still have the option to take the fight to purse bid (no different than what Golden Boy did to n'Dam) and not give over any of his own UK money?

There's no "worry" about Joshua getting a title shot; he's basically locked in to get his first crack within his next 3-4 fights. The issue is that you seem to have such a hard-on over picking up a paper title, that you're seemingly advocating "to hell with doing proper business; get the fight".

You're thinking is almost as foolish as K2, after flopping in their PPV debut, asking for a 60/40 split on the Canelo fight, when their mandatory status only being good for a 25/75 split on a purse bid.

Glolovkin's mandatory purse split is 45% as interim champion, theres no issue there. The problem is the WBC, who are unlikely to seriously enforce it