Anthony Joshua delivered everything he had promised in fight week: a knockout punch and the avoidance of a second career banana skin loss, as he called it.
And yet the knockout of Kubrat Pulev he delivered in the ninth round still left as many questions as answers, most notably around who he faces next. Despite Pulev being the man on the other side of the ring, for much of the week the focus had been on next year’s double-header against Tyson Fury.
And the night’s result got no clearer to gauging who will come away with the unified heavyweight belts at the end of 2021. As 2020 draws to an end, that is not necessarily a slight on Joshua. All he could do was beat the fighter in front of him and he did so with a monstrous final punch from which Pulev had no chance of recovering.
Joshua showed he can still be the explosive fighter, something absent in the second meeting against Andy Ruiz Jr, and he demonstrated that so effectively in round three – where the fight had looked on the verge of ending – and again six rounds later.
It was a brutal finish, the precursor to which had been a series of uppercuts that left the Bulgarian rattled and groggy. But there were still times when the Joshua intensity switched off. Round four had looked like the moment he would finish off Pulev, but instead he took his foot off the gas.
It gave his opponent the chance to gather himself and box his way back into the contest. And each time Joshua backed off, it only encouraged Pulev to rattle. And yet, in preparing for Fury next, there were benefits to the fight lasting six rounds further - a better test for what lies ahead.
Joshua’s defence was superb for much of the night, Pulev rarely able to land sufficient blows to faze the Londoner. Plus, he looked leaner than he has done for some time having laid off the weights in the gym – a physique that looks to suit him on the evidence of the night.
There were moments where perhaps Joshua played it too safe in the middle rounds but the prospect of a £200million super fight potentially slipping away will do that to you.
It was predictable that Fury would have his say almost immediately after Joshua’s post-fight interview, bedecked in a Christmas jumper on social media and declaring, “I want the fight, I want the fight next” before promising to knock Joshua out.
There will be the inevitable and very public wranglings before any deal is officially done. Fury declared he would knock him out, while Joshua, fresh from his latest win, declared himself the world’s best heavyweight. Only time and next year will tell.
