BoxRec

Realistically Joshua would dispatch Ruiz early... Maybe in the 1st round without even trying... Ruiz was WAY too easy to hit and Joshua is a great puncher... Even though AJ lacks experience and rounds, he's already a very skillful boxer.. Wladimir Klitschko was a very risky fight for him.. Wilder, Forch, and other top fighters said they feared for Joshua going into this fight because of his lack of top opponents and rounds.. AJ handled it.

He dropped Klitschko 3 X in route to stopping him in the 11th round when he had a commanding lead on points -- because that was a 3-point round and he was already ahead.. This fight reminded me a bit of Cassius Clay not being given a chance to beat old Sonny Liston because he only had 19 fights.. The real issues were Liston looked at least 40 years old and only fought 3 rounds the previous 3 years. Clay wasn't a little teeny Heavyweight like Patterson.

Now Joshua has to buckle down and go for the skills 1000%... He came in at 250 and was very focused on punching power for this fight... He can sometimes put too much strength on his jab instead of pinking with it.. He was fooled into anticipating a jab when Wlad floored him with that right lead.. That was a tough punch to come back from.. You don't want to just stand there slipping punches because you're good at it.. Mayweather got nailed with right leads by an old Mosley -- it can happen to anybody. You can't relax too much because everyone gets hit.

Did you know Ali was knocked out in sparring??? ... He admits this in his autobiography.. He talks about coming out of it in stages.. Joshua uses sparring to improve his skills, not to test his skills.. He's not concerned about what happens in a sparring match because it's not a contest.. Do you want to be the world's best gym fighter or a super wealthy World Heavyweight Champion??? To BE or NOT to be. That is the question.

I never said size is the overarching asset any boxer has. That would be a ridiculous statement. But there are no weight classes in Tennis or Golf.. There are no weight classes in ANY sports but combat sports -- so height, weight, reach, and strength give a boxer with great skills a significant advantage over a much smaller foe.. In the case of Valuev, size was the only outstanding asset he had.. He was devoid of skills.. Don't give me opinions I don't hold.

It didn't matter how many titles there were in 1964.. The World Champion was an old man who was already aging in the late 50's.. Ali came along at the right time and beat a guy who had 3 rounds of action in the previous 3 years... How often does that happen? They were doing Heavyweight Title Fights once a year in the 1950's and 1960's at times -- because there was no Heavyweight talent out there.. The title was practically handed to Ali.. Joshua beat a young undefeated tricky young southpaw who went 6'5" X 245, and admittedly wasn't an outstanding champion.. Joshua treated Martin as such and wiped him out in 4 minutes.. Ali never defended the title against a 6'6" X 240 ATG boxer/puncher in his life.

Ali wasn't "very good" defensively or he would not have absorbed the massive amount of punishment that fell to him... Klitschko is very good defensively ... Until his latest fight Wlad never took a massive amount of punishment going back 14 or 15 years to where his skills needed a serious upgrade.[/quote]

I am really amazed how determined you are to persist with this theory that Joshua has already eclipsed the achievements of Ali.
As I said previously, I am a huge fan of both and hope AJ goes on to be a hall of famer. I was at the Charles Martin fight at the 02 and at Wembley and was very impressed with AJ's performances in both.
But to claim he is better than Ali because has skittled what has been pretty limited opposition for the lions share of his career is, in my opinion, ridiculous. When he has the calibre of opponents on his resume that Ali has (Foreman, Frazier, Norton, Paterson, Liston, Folley) then I think the argument has credibility; and as a said, I genuinely hop this will be the case. If in three years he has Wilder, Fury and perhaps Ortiz on his record then the debate will be an interesting one.
At the moment though, suggesting such just makes you sound like an AJ fanboy who will find reasons to belittle other boxers to prove you "AJ is best" theory.