BoxRec

Impractical Poster wrote:

crusader wrote:I'm surprised that today's fight seems to reaffirm your AJ ATG confidence

He went life and death, and looked close to being stopped by an inactive 41 year old who lost 9-3 to Fury. AJ has done very well, but there is much room for improvement.

Dude, you're really giving Wlad very little credit here. And I've been one of his biggest critics over the years. He looked better tonight than he has in a while. Much lighter on his feet, and showed great recovery. He is already extremely experienced. He just needed to condition himself well. And that he did. He had a ton of experience compared to AJ and he was in fantastic shape.

Ricky_ wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:

crusader wrote:
When someone is claiming that AJ already runs through most ATGs at their best, it's perfectly acceptable to note that he struggled greatly and was almost stopped by 41-year-old, inactive Wlad.

Of course he can improve, though it remains to be seen how better he gets.

One's prime age differs. When you note that he is 41, it's insinuating that he has slipped. If anything, I think the time off helped him regroup. When was the last time you have seen Wlad move like that? He was in tremendous shape for this fight. He has shown no signs of slipping.

With all that said, I did state that it was too early to be comparing him to the greats just yet. Maybe another 5 or so years down the line.

TBH, I felt that AJ was gassing at the time he was struggling with Wlad. Once he got his second win, he looked the better of the two again/ Just my take.

AJ was a sitting duck and Wlad didn't have the finish. Timing was off, i just rewatched it. He had AJ on a plate in 5 & 6. Kept missing the left hook and overthrowing the right when AJ was stumbling around in a desperate state.

crusader wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:

crusader wrote:I'm surprised that today's fight seems to reaffirm your AJ ATG confidence

He went life and death, and looked close to being stopped by an inactive 41 year old who lost 9-3 to Fury. AJ has done very well, but there is much room for improvement.

Dude, you're really giving Wlad very little credit here. And I've been one of his biggest critics over the years. He looked better tonight than he has in a while. Much lighter on his feet, and showed great recovery. He is already extremely experienced. He just needed to condition himself well. And that he did. He had a ton of experience compared to AJ and he was in fantastic shape.

I'm giving him plenty of credit, but I'm also realistic and not conveniently glossing over the fact that he's 41, hasn't been as sharp over the last few years, and got outboxed 9-3 by Tyson Fury in his previous fight.

Wlad is still among the best HWs, and it was a nice win by AJ, but read the fuckking thread title and get some perspective.

Impractical Poster wrote:

crusader wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:It's a bit too early to compare him to the likes of those guys just yet.

It's hilarious when people dismiss a man's potential greatness because he gets dropped in a fight. Fury got dropped by Cunningham. Lewis got KOed by Rahman... the list goes on. AJ recovered well, regrouped in deep water in which he had not been before and scored a late KO over one of the most dominate HW champions the world has ever seen. Yeah, pretty impressive.

When someone is claiming that AJ already runs through most ATGs at their best, it's perfectly acceptable to note that he struggled greatly and was almost stopped by 41-year-old, inactive Wlad.

Of course he can improve, though it remains to be seen how better he gets.

One's prime age differs. When you note that he is 41, it's insinuating that he has slipped. If anything, I think the time off helped him regroup. When was the last time you have seen Wlad move like that? He was in tremendous shape for this fight. He has shown no signs of slipping.

With all that said, I did state that it was too early to be comparing him to the greats just yet. Maybe another 5 or so years down the line.

TBH, I felt that AJ was gassing at the time he was struggling with Wlad. Once he got his second win, he looked the better of the two again/ Just my take.

Impractical Poster wrote:It's a bit too early to compare him to the likes of those guys just yet.

It's hilarious when people dismiss a man's potential greatness because he gets dropped in a fight. Fury got dropped by Cunningham. Lewis got KOed by Rahman... the list goes on. AJ recovered well, regrouped in deep water in which he had not been before and scored a late KO over one of the most dominate HW champions the world has ever seen. Yeah, pretty impressive.

Impractical Poster wrote:

Ricky_ wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote: One's prime age differs. When you note that he is 41, it's insinuating that he has slipped. If anything, I think the time off helped him regroup. When was the last time you have seen Wlad move like that? He was in tremendous shape for this fight. He has shown no signs of slipping.

With all that said, I did state that it was too early to be comparing him to the greats just yet. Maybe another 5 or so years down the line.

TBH, I felt that AJ was gassing at the time he was struggling with Wlad. Once he got his second win, he looked the better of the two again/ Just my take.

AJ was a sitting duck and Wlad didn't have the finish. Timing was off, i just rewatched it. He had AJ on a plate in 5 & 6. Kept missing the left hook and overthrowing the right when AJ was stumbling around in a desperate state.

Yeah.... he was probably still clearing the cobwebs from getting decked just a little earlier...

Impractical Poster wrote:

crusader wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:It's a bit too early to compare him to the likes of those guys just yet.

It's hilarious when people dismiss a man's potential greatness because he gets dropped in a fight. Fury got dropped by Cunningham. Lewis got KOed by Rahman... the list goes on. AJ recovered well, regrouped in deep water in which he had not been before and scored a late KO over one of the most dominate HW champions the world has ever seen. Yeah, pretty impressive.

What's hilarious is people acting like Fury didn't already beat Wlad easily last fight

Yeah... That's because that fight was a circus act of sorts. We'd all soon forget about that night.... And I was rooting for Fury. Dude didn't have the mental fortitude to even defend his title.

Ricky_ wrote:

Jip wrote:

Ricky_ wrote:



Give it a rest. AJ is a big punching body builder who's actual boxing talent is modest to say the least.

At this point in his career he's nowhere near Lennox.

Yeah, you win olympic gold and put a atg 3 times on the canvas and end it with tko with modest boxing talent

Yeah you're right he's like a giant fusion of Lomachenko & Mayweather.

crusader wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:

crusader wrote:

What's hilarious is people acting like Fury didn't already beat Wlad easily last fight

Yeah... That's because that fight was a circus act of sorts. We'd all soon forget about that night.... And I was rooting for Fury. Dude didn't have the mental fortitude to even defend his title.

No, it's because Fury's movement didn't allow Wlad to set to punch, and his jab and length allowed him to land from outside Wlad's range. You say I'm not giving Wlad enough credit, but you should try giving Fury some credit for beating Wlad with far fewer problems than strong but basic AJ had.

jezzamundo wrote:AJ vs Frazier is an interesting matchup - we've never seen AJ share the ring with a first-class swarmer like Frazier. I don't think Joshua hits quite as hard as a prime Foreman, but he certainly hits hard enough to stop Frazier and has huge physical advantages. I could see either winning by KO, though I slightly favour Joshua.

AJ vs Foreman - another difficult one to predict, two bangers, Joshua the naturally larger man, Foreman likely the more durable. I see Foreman's jab being an important factor in this fight, which is why I slightly favour him to win by KO in the middle rounds. This is a young, prime, Foreman of course, AJ knocks out the old, fat version.

AJ vs Holyfield - Holyfield is the faster and has better boxing skills, while Joshua the far bigger, stronger and more powerful. If Holy boxes intelligently, he should win a decision, but he inevitably ends up trading in almost all of his fights, though his strong chin lets him get away with it. I like Holyfield to win this by decision.

AJ vs Tyson - another very interesting matchup. I don't see it going the distance, either Tyson stops him early or AJ stops him late.

AJ vs Ali - Ali's footspeed advantage would be massive while he'd have clearly faster hands and better stamina. I honestly don't see AJ being competitive in this fight, Ali wins a lopsided decision.

AJ vs Lewis - Similarly sized, similar handspeed and footspeed, AJ possibly with a small power and durability advantage, while Lewis has better defense, better boxing skills and a better jab when he remembers to use it. I don't think Lewis would underestimate AJ and he'd outbox him before stopping him in the middle rounds.

AJ vs Wlad - A 41yo version of Wlad just pushed AJ to the limit, so I predict that the prime version wins a decision or possibly a late stoppage.

AJ vs Vitali - Both big men, AJ punches much harder, Vitali is more durable. Considering what a past-prime Lewis did to Vitali, Joshua surely has a good chance of doing the same or better, while I could see Vitali winning a decision or stopping AJ late. 50:50 fight.

Jip wrote:

Ricky_ wrote:

Jip wrote:
Yeah, you win olympic gold and put a atg 3 times on the canvas and end it with tko with modest boxing talent

Yeah you're right he's like a giant fusion of Lomachenko & Mayweather.

U a troll?

crusader wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:

crusader wrote:

What's hilarious is people acting like Fury didn't already beat Wlad easily last fight

Yeah... That's because that fight was a circus act of sorts. We'd all soon forget about that night.... And I was rooting for Fury. Dude didn't have the mental fortitude to even defend his title.

No, it's because Fury's movement didn't allow Wlad to set to punch, and his jab and length allowed him to land from outside Wlad's range. You say I'm not giving Wlad enough credit, but you should try giving Fury some credit for beating Wlad with far fewer problems than strong but basic AJ had.

crusader wrote:At 41, with 18 months of inactivity, I don't think Wlad would've been in much better form tonight. I think a more relevant consideration is that Fury's movement, jab, and length made it difficult for Wlad to set himself or get inside on Fury, whereas AJ proved to be more powerful, but much more basic. Some people are dismissing Fury's win just because it wasn't entertaining and he never needed to pick his butt off the canvas, which is ridiculous.

Jip, are you one of those annoying, idiotic types who cries hater when someone doesn't lavish your favourite fighters in praise? I think AJ is the top heavyweight right now, and he showed great heart to come back and win after nearly being stopped and going through hell. He's an excellent puncher and I think he's going to have a very nice career, and he may well prove himself to be one of the best ever, but I just don't think his performance tonight was on an ATG level.

Impractical Poster wrote:

crusader wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote: Yeah... That's because that fight was a circus act of sorts. We'd all soon forget about that night.... And I was rooting for Fury. Dude didn't have the mental fortitude to even defend his title.

No, it's because Fury's movement didn't allow Wlad to set to punch, and his jab and length allowed him to land from outside Wlad's range. You say I'm not giving Wlad enough credit, but you should try giving Fury some credit for beating Wlad with far fewer problems than strong but basic AJ had.

I had given him enough props at the time. But, to say he's got more ability than AJ is what I think is off. That's like saying Devon Alexander has more ability than Floyd Mayweather because Devon was able to perform against Maidana with far lesser issues than Mayweather did. I just don't buy that logic. I saw and understood the strategy Fury implemented against Wlad, and it worked. But it no way manipulates me into believing that Fury has more boxing ability than AJ.

If you want to believe that, that's your prerogative. But we will disagree wholly.

Ricky_ wrote:

Jip wrote:

Ricky_ wrote:

Yeah you're right he's like a giant fusion of Lomachenko & Mayweather.

U a troll?

It seems you are. Jizzing urself over a big puncher bowling over some tomato cans suddenly he's the goat... eating it up like the rest of the casuals. Piss off you fool, you're embarrassing yourself.

Jip wrote:Vs frazier: small, light. Foremon-frazier all over
Possibly, but we've never seen Joshua faced with a first-class swarmer like Frazier (though to be fair that's not his fault as none exist at heavyweight today)

Vs foremon: slow, stationary, average technique, aj wrecks him
Foreman also has a great chin and at least as much power as AJ, in addition to a better jab. His slowness is generally overstated, he just looked slow compared to some of his great contemporaries. AJ would have the faster hands but there wouldn't be much difference in footspeed and Foreman was very good at cutting off the ring.

Vs holyfield: small, not enough power to impress aj. Similar to lewis-holyfield
Keep in mind that Holyfield was clearly past his best when he narrowly lost to Lewis in their rematch. Joshua is easier to hit than Lewis and Holy would hit hard enough to get his respect (as he did with the iron-chinned Foreman) though probably not enough to stop him, I could see him knocking AJ down. AJ is more powerful than, but not as offensively skilled as Riddick Bowe.

Vs tyson: now that is interresting. Tyson was small, but prime tyson was much more athletic than liston or frazier, had blonding speed, equal maybe a bit less power than aj but tone of aggression and the mindeset to come close to his opponents to do damage, tall boxers hate quick small powerful punchers who do inside damage. Tough one.
I agree this is a tough one - I actually think AJ has a better shot of beating Tyson than several of the other guys here because he could make his size an issue.

Vs ali: struggled and lost in my opp against norton. Aj is taller. Bigger and stronger than norton, ali outshines aj techniquly, but the difference in height and power are just to much for ali
The difference in height/reach would be minimal as Ali is just 3 inches shorter but fights taller and makes better use of his reach. AJ is certainly bigger and stronger than Norton, who didn't beat Ali with his size/strength, but his boxing skills - I don't think AJ has the ability to pull off the gameplan that Norton executed.

Vs lewis: knocks weak chin lewis out
Very simplistic evaluation of the fight. It took Joshua 11 rounds to stop the similarly 'weak-chinned' Wlad, who was clearly past his best (though to be fair to AJ, he gave a great performance. Lewis has the better defense, hit plenty hard enough and has better punch variety than Wlad, plus a great jab when he committed to it.

Vs vitaly: very close fight. Both tremendous power chin height
Vitali had similar power to Holyfied, his strengths here are his use of spacing, his boxing skills and durability. I could see this going either way.

Vs wlad: we saw what happened and when aj gets a vit more older and seasoned he ll be even better
We saw what happened when AJ fights a 41yo Wlad. Surely Wlad would be favoured were he in his prime.

Prime vitaly and prime tyson would pose the biggest problem of all atg against current anthony joshua

I disagree - I think of the guys you've mentioned, Holyfield, Ali and Lewis would be the most likely to beat AJ - I'd pick them all to beat him with a fair degree of confidence.

Jip wrote:

jezzamundo wrote:AJ vs Frazier is an interesting matchup - we've never seen AJ share the ring with a first-class swarmer like Frazier. I don't think Joshua hits quite as hard as a prime Foreman, but he certainly hits hard enough to stop Frazier and has huge physical advantages. I could see either winning by KO, though I slightly favour Joshua.

AJ vs Foreman - another difficult one to predict, two bangers, Joshua the naturally larger man, Foreman likely the more durable. I see Foreman's jab being an important factor in this fight, which is why I slightly favour him to win by KO in the middle rounds. This is a young, prime, Foreman of course, AJ knocks out the old, fat version.

AJ vs Holyfield - Holyfield is the faster and has better boxing skills, while Joshua the far bigger, stronger and more powerful. If Holy boxes intelligently, he should win a decision, but he inevitably ends up trading in almost all of his fights, though his strong chin lets him get away with it. I like Holyfield to win this by decision.

AJ vs Tyson - another very interesting matchup. I don't see it going the distance, either Tyson stops him early or AJ stops him late.

AJ vs Ali - Ali's footspeed advantage would be massive while he'd have clearly faster hands and better stamina. I honestly don't see AJ being competitive in this fight, Ali wins a lopsided decision.

AJ vs Lewis - Similarly sized, similar handspeed and footspeed, AJ possibly with a small power and durability advantage, while Lewis has better defense, better boxing skills and a better jab when he remembers to use it. I don't think Lewis would underestimate AJ and he'd outbox him before stopping him in the middle rounds.

AJ vs Wlad - A 41yo version of Wlad just pushed AJ to the limit, so I predict that the prime version wins a decision or possibly a late stoppage.

AJ vs Vitali - Both big men, AJ punches much harder, Vitali is more durable. Considering what a past-prime Lewis did to Vitali, Joshua surely has a good chance of doing the same or better, while I could see Vitali winning a decision or stopping AJ late. 50:50 fight.

If ali would win so lopsided than why did ali lose to opponents that are inferior to joshua, like norton or frazier. Alis moving footwork is nice, but he cant run forever. And ajs reach height and power advantage would be to much for prime ali

crusader wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:

crusader wrote:I'm surprised that today's fight seems to reaffirm your AJ ATG confidence

He went life and death, and looked close to being stopped by an inactive 41 year old who lost 9-3 to Fury. AJ has done very well, but there is much room for improvement.

Dude, you're really giving Wlad very little credit here. And I've been one of his biggest critics over the years. He looked better tonight than he has in a while. Much lighter on his feet, and showed great recovery. He is already extremely experienced. He just needed to condition himself well. And that he did. He had a ton of experience compared to AJ and he was in fantastic shape.

I'm giving him plenty of credit, but I'm also realistic and not conveniently glossing over the fact that he's 41, hasn't been as sharp over the last few years, and got outboxed 9-3 by Tyson Fury in his previous fight.

Wlad is still among the best HWs, and it was a nice win by AJ, but read the fuckking thread title and get some perspective.

Impractical Poster wrote:

crusader wrote:I'm surprised that today's fight seems to reaffirm your AJ ATG confidence

He went life and death, and looked close to being stopped by an inactive 41 year old who lost 9-3 to Fury. AJ has done very well, but there is much room for improvement.

Dude, you're really giving Wlad very little credit here. And I've been one of his biggest critics over the years. He looked better tonight than he has in a while. Much lighter on his feet, and showed great recovery. He is already extremely experienced. He just needed to condition himself well. And that he did. He had a ton of experience compared to AJ and he was in fantastic shape.

crusader wrote:No shame in it, but compare how Fury dealt with Wlad.

AJ may well become an ATG, but tonight against old Wlad he certainly didn't look to already be in the class of Lewis and company.

crusader wrote:AJ is no more proven than Fury