Formerheavyweight champion, Evander Holyfield, believes Anthony Joshua is the best boxer in the heavyweight class.
The unified heavyweight champion, defended his WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight world titles against Alexander Povetkin last week, and chances are he will face Deontay Wilder next year for an undisputed title match if the American can defeat Tyson Fury in December.
Holyfield, who is attending Friday’s World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) super-middleweight final between George Groves and Callum Smith, said a fight between Joshua and Wilder will be as monumental as when he beat down Mike Tyson in the nineties.
Tyson was the king of the ring back in his day, defeating everyone in his path until he met Holyfield, who broke his win streak.
“Now Joshua is a good fighter, knocking people out and everyone wants to see that. He’s got all these people, 100,000 people coming to his fight and that’s the first time in my life I’ve ever seen boxing draw so many people.
“Deontay isn’t skilful, but he can knock people out, and people want to see that too.”
— Holyfield
When asked who he thought would win a potential fight between the two, Holyfield said he wasn’t sure because both men are great fighters and it will boil down to who has the most confidence and who can bring it more in the ring.
“I think it will be a great fight, you’ve got one guy in Joshua who is a good classic boxer, but another in Deontay who knows a little but can do it well… Joshua is a good fighter and at any given time he knows what to do and can probably do it.”
— Holyfield
