Punching power, especially up in the banner division, is an attribute prized above all else.
It is a weapon that can get a fighter out of any number of sticky situations, which is something that former world champion Deontay Wilder has proved plenty of times in his career.
Speaking to Seconds Out, former cruiserweight champion turned pundit Johnny Nelson spoke on who he thinks currently hits the hardest in the division now the American potentially is out of the picture following two back-to-back losses and on the verge of retirement.
“The only current heavyweight that his as hard or harder than Anthony Joshua is Deontay Wilder. Deontay Wilder’s gone now.”
Nelson went on to use that to predict Anthony Joshua‘s upcoming fight with Daniel Dubois.
“Anthony Joshua hits far too hard, so to be a fighter that believes in himself, that’s finally let the penny drop, that version of Anthony Joshua hits too hard. Even though Daniel Dubois has come through the flames of hell and got hit by Filip Hrgovic who was putting the pressure on, Hrgovic doesn’t hit like Anthony Joshua. No matter what, Dubois’s only human, you cannot afford to get hit like that.”
He was then asked how Dubois might combat that when the two square off on September 21.
“His answer is to break his heart. To keep the pressure on. He brought on that style to put Hrgovic under pressure because Hrgovic as a fighter, I’ve seen it many times, switch off mid-fight and say I don’t want any of this. Daniel kept the pressure on consistently enough to break my man’s heart, but the eye, and make it look like it was going in the wrong direction for Hrgovic.”
That said, Nelson claimed the younger man won’t be able to break Joshua mentally.
“No, I don’t think Dubois can. The only people we’ve seen break him are [Oleksandr] Usyk twice and [Andy] Ruiz. That was a miscalculation he put right in the second fight.”
