BoxRec

I think Joshua would beat any heavyweight other than Klitschko right now, so don't have a problem with BM's ranking.

Thanks for all the well-considered posts. I always enjoy debating boxing issues with people who understand the sport and put thoughts into words in an intelligent way.

The comment about Joshua getting too big -- too muscled -- caught my attention. This is my concern, too. I do believe, though, that he is being prepared to go the rounds if necessary. Another poster mentioned an economical style of fighting. Joshua, it seems to me, does punch with excellent form and economy. When he has an opponent in trouble, though, he opens up, and this is what makes him so exciting, he doesn't " carry" an opponent to get the rounds in.

Yes, Glyn had a very high opinion of Jose Luis Gonzalez and stuck to his guns. The only time Glyn ever, ever "pulled rank" on me was when Gonzalez fought Riddick Bowe. He said, basically: "Graham, you can cover any fight you like on site in America but Gonzalez against Bowe is one fight I want to report from ringside." That fight was a disaster for Gonzalez, of course. I think the tipoff with Gonzalez was when he was taken into the 10th round by Renaldo Snipes, who was around 37 years old. I haven't looked back on my notes so this is from memory, but I recall there was a certain sloppiness, a certain laziness, in Gonzalez's fighting that night. He beat up poor Renaldo, but it wasn't a sharp performance.

I put a lot of store by activity when it comes to ratings, as said. Fighters such as Stiverne and Pulev, basically one fight for each in the last 14 months and both badly beaten last time they were in the ring, come down.

Winning an Olympic gold and coming within a point or two of winning the world amateur championship counts a lot with me.

Yes, Kevin Johnson went out easily, but he basically tried to do his thing, flicking the jab, being cute (didn't he attempt an Ali shuffle?) but, this is the thing, Joshua didn't let him be cute, he wouldn't have it. That, to me anyway, is what was so impressive about it.

In the British lightweight rankings, I asked for Luke Campbell to be ranked quite high, quite early, in a situation somewhat similar to the Johnson one in the world heavyweight rankings: Olympic gold, talent, potential and what I dare to call logic. I didn't see the logic in Campbell ranked under boxers who would be significant underdogs should they be matched against Campbell. I didn't want a situation where (name pulled out of a hat) Nick Halling would exclaim on Sky: "Well, that was impressive, and this against a boxer rated five places above Campbell in the Boxing Monthly British ratings."

Anyway, with Luke as with AJ, we'll see what we shall see.

That's exactly the case. We'll see soon enough where AJ and the likes rank at the top, and see if his hype is worthwhile.

The comments regarding fighting only once in 14 months is very true. In what professional sport do you compete once a year (barring a long spell of very unfortunate injuries), and still expect to be associated with the top of their respective division? I do appreciate that boxing is a combat sport, and it takes a long time to recover between fights, but 14 months? Come on. I know now that AJ is now being sized up against better opposition, so we should expect to see him in the ring less.

From the top 20 in the BoxRec heavyweight division, only AJ and Joseph Parker have fought more than 3 times in the last 12 months, with many being largely inactive for the last 12 months (some approaching 12 months without fighting once). Granted they're early in their respective careers, and have both been fighting lower ranked opposition. Surely you lose ranking points after so much time of inactivity?

im particularly liking how so many of the emerging prospects are so young
aj is 25
joseph parker only 23

and the likes of ruiz, martin, jennings, furies, breazeale, rivas all still in their 20's or thereabout

its a trend that can only be could imo