Your view on AJ?

[BigDoofus]

Juicy.

[daznvern]

Wasnt there a story of him caught with drugs in his car and escaped a 10 year stretch?

[lillywhite14]

I'm a fan. He's obviously well rehearsed but as mentioned, better that than a fake angry persona I guess.

Long term, if all goes well of course, he'll break out on his own I bet. He would be mad not to. I suspect we'll also see a bit more of his nasty side, which is a good thing. Heavyweight champions shouldn't be all rainbows and smiles.

[Monte Fisto]

1. He's taking care of business very well
2. I'm not on the train until he beats a top opponent, but i want him to succeed
3. Persona is a bit too cheesy and probably unsustainable (almost Jon Bones Jones like), but we'll see.

[Southy1922]

I just can't warm to the guy, there's something not quite right about the whole manufactured persona.

Humble? Yet spends all day posting photos with his sponsors in them on private jets and beaches.

A gentleman? I though his behaviour during the haye v Bellew fight showed more of his real side. He wanted to see Haye humiliated despite knowing he was injured.

A top heavy weight? Remains to be seen but we'll find out next month.

His fans? Generally AJ fans rather than boxing fans, nothing wrong with that at all but they do talk massive amounts of ill informed crap and I think that puts me off him too. It's bitter I know but I almost want him to get his arse handed to him just to shut them up.

The saviour of boxing? Well in terms of getting the public back interested in boxing and raising its profile him and Hearn have been a great team and done a fantastic job. I just wonder if I'm grumpy about this and liked it more when I was following a niche sport, although I'm really enjoying some of the boxing out on these days.

I think I'd warm to him much more if he proves himself at the top level because then my boxing snobbery will be able to help me feel like I'm supporting a genuine talent rather than an overhyped cash cow.

Just my honest thoughts.

Joe Louis mark I I. Manufactured to cater to British conformity.

[Oiky]

Find him fake and boring

Good luck to him though

Making a nice few quid isn't he

[TheGman]

I just can't warm to the guy, there's something not quite right about the whole manufactured persona.

Humble? Yet spends all day posting photos with his sponsors in them on private jets and beaches.

A gentleman? I though his behaviour during the haye v Bellew fight showed more of his real side. He wanted to see Haye humiliated despite knowing he was injured.

A top heavy weight? Remains to be seen but we'll find out next month.

His fans? Generally AJ fans rather than boxing fans, nothing wrong with that at all but they do talk massive amounts of ill informed crap and I think that puts me off him too. It's bitter I know but I almost want him to get his arse handed to him just to shut them up.

The saviour of boxing? Well in terms of getting the public back interested in boxing and raising its profile him and Hearn have been a great team and done a fantastic job. I just wonder if I'm grumpy about this and liked it more when I was following a niche sport, although I'm really enjoying some of the boxing out on these days.

I think I'd warm to him much more if he proves himself at the top level because then my boxing snobbery will be able to help me feel like I'm supporting a genuine talent rather than an overhyped cash cow.

Just my honest thoughts.

At first i thought he would be the next unified champ but,like u said,he was all smiles when haye got beat the weekend and knowing the guy was injured looks like no one from the matchroom stable has mentioned it just that bellew done a great job. Joshua knows a fit haye trained by booth would give him kittens and thats why he acted like he did cause now there is no chance of that fight happening. I dont think it will be next month that joshua falls on his arse i think it will be the wilder fight or even parker.

Tbh in his defence when your listening to all the hype around u and your counting ur millions its hard to not to believe that your something special.

Hope somethin happens soon cause these ppv's are too much on top of everything else

[coneye]

He just reminds me so much of Bruno , Big strong stiff lumbering heavyweight ,, except Bruno for me was better , , His success at the present time is more down to a bad heavyweight division than skills , But you can only beat whats in front , and we will see , Vlad may expose him , or we may find Klitchko has just got too old , If this happens then the one i want to see him with is Wilder , simple because i think Wilder is another hype machine who's yet to meet someone who can hit back ...

Followed by probably the biggest fight ever in Britain , providing you know who can come back fit with no demons .

[boxingknockout]

I can't warm to him at all - the nice guy stuff is not only nauseating but is unlikely to relate to truth.

Remember Joshua leaving his 'baby mother' in a studio flat with his own child and not even acknowledging his son until she went to the papers. I haven't seen any photos of him visiting the baby, no any typical Joshua PR photos and trite platitudes about how overjoyed he is about the child and blah blah blah.

Another reason I can't warm to him is because of the Hearn / Sky Joshua hype machine, which doesn't fool us cynical buggers but, judging by chat I pick up on the pub is working on the masses. Everyone 'casual' (and I'm not using this as an insult) thinks he's the greatest thing ever and the nicest guy in the business, really genuine and yes, I have on a few occasions heard people mention the 'humble' word. I tried to put them straight but propaganda is an extraordinarily effective mind control tool.

As to boxing - when he turned pro, even though I don't think he deserved gold, I thought he was a can't fail project. Especially as the heavyweight division was so light on talent. And I still think he's extremely good, if a bit stiff. If his chin is solid he will be there for years. He trains in a very advanced and scientific manner and his 'supplement' knowledge seems 'on point'. He reminds me of a black (obviously) Ivan Drago.

Fury had the skills to beat Joshua in my opinion, but Fury will probably never return to the correct mentality or fitness to mount a challenge. He looks 45 already. Haye prior to his recent injury breakdown I thought had a chance but his body is too injury prone. There is not a lot of serious talent in the heavies and not a lot of threats out there. Wlad is likely to be too old unless he chins Joshua or has one last hurrah left in him, which I don't see.

So what do we have to look forward to? Probably a long stay at the top for Joshua, a vomit inducing hype machine from Sky and Hearn and claims he is the best ever heavy etc. Christ, that almost makes me want to commit suicide...

[jamesmcdonnell]

He just reminds me so much of Bruno , Big strong stiff lumbering heavyweight ,, except Bruno for me was better , , His success at the present time is more down to a bad heavyweight division than skills , But you can only beat whats in front , and we will see , Vlad may expose him , or we may find Klitchko has just got too old , If this happens then the one i want to see him with is Wilder , simple because i think Wilder is another hype machine who's yet to meet someone who can hit back ...

Followed by probably the biggest fight ever in Britain , providing you know who can come back fit with no demons .

I'm beginning to agree. I thought he has looked poor in his last couple. Stiff and predictable.

However, there's not a lot of talent out there right now, most of them have very poor skills.

I'd pick him over Wilder, mainly because Wilder has all the technique of an orangutan with horseradish shoved up it's arse.

[jamesmcdonnell]

He just reminds me so much of Bruno , Big strong stiff lumbering heavyweight ,, except Bruno for me was better , , His success at the present time is more down to a bad heavyweight division than skills , But you can only beat whats in front , and we will see , Vlad may expose him , or we may find Klitchko has just got too old , If this happens then the one i want to see him with is Wilder , simple because i think Wilder is another hype machine who's yet to meet someone who can hit back ...

Followed by probably the biggest fight ever in Britain , providing you know who can come back fit with no demons .

I'd say Joshua is a bit more relaxed than Bruno.

[Tom Moore]

He just reminds me so much of Bruno , Big strong stiff lumbering heavyweight

This. Definitely this.

I've no idea if Bruno's better, and unless big bad Wlad has remembered how to box, I'll be none the wiser come end of April as he still won't have faced a live body.

I'd like to think he'd better than Bruno, because Big Frank really wasn't very good.

Don't care about his personality, we're all dickheads to a certain extent.

[Freedom2013]

Anthony Joshua is the best HW in the world right now.

[boxingknockout]

Anthony Joshua is the best HW in the world right now.

You're probably right. I think Povetkin would have a chance (especially with his supplements) but that's not going to happen clearly.

Wilder has a chance if Joshua is chinny, but not much of one as he's wild and is likely Chinny himself. Parker very little chance. Fury can prob never get in good enough shape again. Ortiz is too fat and about 60 years old....

There is just no one out there. Even if Wlad were to win, he's retiring soon and it would take more than one loss to derail the Joshua train

[dr_devious]

Anthony Joshua is the best HW in the world right now.

That's not saying much the HW division is at an all time low.

[Tuan_Jim]

The true personality will explode out of him sometime soon.

Can't make my mind up about him as a boxer. Every fight so far is choreographed to make him look spectacular. Can he take a punch? Has he been prepared to come through a real fight? Is there a real fight out there? It's the worst, most hopeless top 20 I have ever seen. Talent vacuum.

The most challenging opponents - Fury, Haye, Povetkin - are unlikely to find top form again. Wilder and Parker look limited and delicate in the jawbone. Luis Ortiz will be kept away till he goes over the hill. Not much to look forward to. Golden age for celeb-worshipping casuals looms.

[boxingknockout]

The true personality will explode out of him sometime soon.

Can't make my mind up about him as a boxer. Every fight so far is choreographed to make him look spectacular. Can he take a punch? Has he been prepared to come through a real fight? Is there a real fight out there? It's the worst, most hopeless top 20 I have ever seen. Talent vacuum.

The most challenging opponents - Fury, Haye, Povetkin - are unlikely to find top form again. Wilder and Parker look limited and delicate in the jawbone. Luis Ortiz will be kept away till he goes over the hill. Not much to look forward to. Golden age for celeb-worshipping casuals looms.

Yes, the black Uriah Heep of boxing will have an anabolic meltdown at some point. And it will be ugly. When your brain is as small as his (look at his skull shape) and with the media pressure and alleged PED usage... something big is going to happen at some time. AJ is Vesuvius (except more humble, obviously) waiting to erupt. I can see him beating a partner to death in some PED induced break down. Whether it's Eddie Hearn remains to be seen

[coneye]

There is a good point peds,, I look at him and to me it just screams out , Ok his physice might just be hard work , but honestly in this day and age it seems everyone except my aunty flo is using , , But if he is how come he's not been caught , sfter all Hughie and Tyson were allegedly tested and found out , others have been tested and found out ,, Does / has AJ actually been tested , or do we have a very selctive selection on who's tested and who's not

[Counter-puncher]

The true personality will explode out of him sometime soon.

Can't make my mind up about him as a boxer. Every fight so far is choreographed to make him look spectacular. Can he take a punch? Has he been prepared to come through a real fight? Is there a real fight out there? It's the worst, most hopeless top 20 I have ever seen. Talent vacuum.

The most challenging opponents - Fury, Haye, Povetkin - are unlikely to find top form again. Wilder and Parker look limited and delicate in the jawbone. Luis Ortiz will be kept away till he goes over the hill. Not much to look forward to. Golden age for celeb-worshipping casuals looms.

Yes, the black Uriah Heep of boxing will have an anabolic meltdown at some point. And it will be ugly. When your brain is as small as his (look at his skull shape) and with the media pressure and alleged PED usage... something big is going to happen at some time. AJ is Vesuvius (except more humble, obviously) waiting to erupt. I can see him beating a partner to death in some PED induced break down. Whether it's Eddie Hearn remains to be seen

Did you really just imply that you can tell his brain is small, because of the shape of his skull?

[TheGingerBomber]

As a fighter, paper champion, potential chin issue, but done all that has been asked and expected from him at this stage. Beaten some god awful fighters in his "title" fights. Potentially could prove to be a worthy and very good champion.

As a person there are different elements - probably not quite the decent guy he projects, I sense some darkness. But then he is acting like a role model, albeit a boring dull one. But what is wrong with projecting a good image in public? That is what kids and people see and nowt wrong with wanting them to look at a guy who appears to be a nice guy and want to emulate what they see. Is it fake? Sure it probably is, but then, we all have a face we show inside and outside of our homes and do keep some of our own thoughts and sh*t hidden.

I met him on Saturday night, he hung around for ages taking pictures and chatting. My friends sponsor him so I name dropped them and we had a quick chat about them. He could be a right c**t for all I care, in the moment I met him as a fan, he gave me a moment to remember.

I agree. You make some good points about being a role model. He may be acting but better to see him pretend to be nice than going after people. On the other side of the spectrum you've got Ohara Davies pretending to be a pudendum.

And as far as honesty goes, Tyson Fury will say what's on his mind, but it's not always what people wanna hear! He contradicts himself too.
Don't get me wrong I think Fury can be a great guy, but being a traveller he's been brought up in a deeply religious environment which seems to neglect their own if they don't follow a code.
His homophobic comments weren't ex acceptable. Not everything he says is bad/wrong or good/right.

[CaptainSpacerod]

As a fighter so far he's done all that's been asked of him. He's been gradually stepping up in class and now in only his 19th fight he's fighting a man who a couple of years ago was a dominant champion. I like the way he shows what seems to be genuine respect to other fighters past and present.

It's not his fault that Hearn and the pitiful Sky cheerleaders hail him as the saviour of boxing whatever the fvck that means. I was amazed that a man like Bellew, for whom hype is anathema, sidled over to Joshua and practically shoved his tongue up his arse.

I don't blame him for adhering strictly to his media persona when in the public eye. If I were a talented sportsman and my business manager advised me to act humble and respectful at all times thus making myself a lot more popular with the general public and therefore a lot more likely to attract corporate sponsors thereby boosting my income massively I'd put my humble, respectful hat on at every opportunity.

If he goes on to dominate the division it can only be good for boxing in this country. He could end up so popular that there may be a real clamour to show his fights on free to air tv and it could herald the return of boxing for the masses.

[dirk2686]

Anthony Joshua is the best HW in the world right now.

That's not saying much the HW division is at an all time low.

Is it? I remember the days of Maskaev, Ibragimov, Valuev, Liakhovich, an ancient Briggs (even then), an old Ruiz, and an old Rahman all being world title holders just about all at the same time. I'd probably take Wilder, Joshua and a fit Fury to beat them all.

[Ezzard]

I don't get why he's fake? If I was giving an interview on TV I'd be polite and try to come across as well as I could. That's normal...not fake.

I hope he fights everyone in the division. I think he'll beat the old Wlad easily. I'd like to see Wlad put a couple on him first so Joshua comes through some adversity.

[dirk2686]

I don't get why he's fake? If I was giving an interview on TV I'd be polite and try to come across as well as I could. That's normal...not fake.

I hope he fights everyone in the division. I think he'll beat the old Wlad easily. I'd like to see Wlad put a couple on him first so Joshua comes through some adversity.

Jamie Carragher was in the Bellew's changing room afterwards, swearing, talking in a way he never would on TV. I don't wonder why he's 'fake' when commenting on football. You're absolutely right; people do have a public side and a private side.

[boxingknockout]

The true personality will explode out of him sometime soon.

Can't make my mind up about him as a boxer. Every fight so far is choreographed to make him look spectacular. Can he take a punch? Has he been prepared to come through a real fight? Is there a real fight out there? It's the worst, most hopeless top 20 I have ever seen. Talent vacuum.

The most challenging opponents - Fury, Haye, Povetkin - are unlikely to find top form again. Wilder and Parker look limited and delicate in the jawbone. Luis Ortiz will be kept away till he goes over the hill. Not much to look forward to. Golden age for celeb-worshipping casuals looms.

Yes, the black Uriah Heep of boxing will have an anabolic meltdown at some point. And it will be ugly. When your brain is as small as his (look at his skull shape) and with the media pressure and alleged PED usage... something big is going to happen at some time. AJ is Vesuvius (except more humble, obviously) waiting to erupt. I can see him beating a partner to death in some PED induced break down. Whether it's Eddie Hearn remains to be seen

Did you really just imply that you can tell his brain is small, because of the shape of his skull?

Er yes, the volume of a receptacle is normally commensurate to its dimensions. Unless Joshua's skull defies the law of physics.... in which case I suggest we have a real superman on our hands.