The instinct that determines heavyweight fights

The deciding part of the fight is that split second between seeing an opportunity and jumping into the fight.

Joshua has kept a low profile since the accident, limited to some gym footage, brief video messages and later comments from Eddie Hearn.

“I don’t think there’s a guarantee he’ll fight again, but at the same time I hope he’ll fight again because it’s something he loves,” Hearn told First Round TV, adding that Joshua has been training but “isn’t ready and won’t be ready to go back to boxing any time soon.”

Love has never been a dividing line for the elite. Heavyweight champions survive because they operate with a degree of insulation. At his best, Joshua got into range without hesitation, accepting the risk of counterattacks and trusting his right hand to settle the exchange. This commitment requires narrowing the focus to the exclusion of anything outside the scope.

We’ve seen how Joshua responds to defeat in the sport. He rebuilt after Andy Ruiz stopped him and tried to adjust after two losses to Oleksandr Usyk. These boxing setbacks require tactical corrections and emotional control. Real-world trauma takes on a different significance because it changes the way a person processes risk in daily life, and that processing doesn’t automatically shut down in bright light.

The heavyweights who stop to weigh every danger are vulnerable. If the jab is retracted a little slower, or the back foot hesitates before landing, the other guy will step in and find his footing. The difference between shooting on instinct and calculating first may be just one shot, and to this point, that one shot is enough to allow your opponent to seize control.

we will know as soon as possible

Joshua is 36 years old and has gone through the complete process of becoming a champion, deposing the champion, and rebuilding. The long-discussed Fury fight now seems secondary to the more pressing question of whether Joshua is willing to stand in a space where violence is accepted without reflection. The belts and competition can wait; the mental adjustment can’t be rushed.

After suffering an impact of this magnitude, no fighter aircraft returns unscathed. Some people come back with a heightened sense of focus, shifting their grief into focus. Others fight like those who see the cost of risk too clearly to ignore. It won’t take months for the public to figure out which version will emerge. The answer emerges early in that first committed exchange, when he has to decide whether to let go of his hands without thinking about what might come back.

Joshua doesn’t need a payday or inheritance boost. He has ensured both. The true test of this comeback will be whether he can still shrink his world to a twelve-round ring and accept the danger without flinching. If this instinct remains intact, he can maintain his position at the top. If not, no amount of training can mask it for long.