BoxRec

those two are the most exciting prospects in the HW division. but who will be better? the advantage AJ has is that he is younger (almost 29 vs just 25) and he also likely had better training as an amateur due to the london 2012 program.

1.Technical ability: wilder has improved in that regard in the last year. his punches are shorter and he is less easy to hit. still I give AJ the edge because he looks more compact and schooled better in the amateurs.

edge AJ

2.defense: AJ is defensively hittable but still he is more compact than wilder, again here is better amateur school is showing. joshua doesn't have a lot of head movement but he has a halfway decent high guard and collects himself more quickly after punching than wilder who can be out of balance.

3.Punching power: AJ seems to be a good puncher having stopped all of his opponents. however compared to wilder many of those KOs were more due to accumulation, he hit his opponents perfectly several times before they get down and get up 1-2 times before the fight is over. compared to that wilder has spectacular one punch power and often his opponents are down and out after the first flush shot.

edge wilder

4.determination: both are always in great shape and are looking to improve. AJ was on a mission in london and still seems to not have let off at all and wilder works hard to get better too

tie

5.Speed: AJ has solid speed but it does not seem exceptional. wilder seems to have quicker hands but sometimes some of his punches are a little longer which makes them effectively slower than his hands are while AJ has very straight and short punches making them appear faster than they are.

still an edge for wilder, especially if he shortens his punches

6.Chin: both are untested in the Pros but AJ is looking more solid. AJ has taken big shots of big punchers like medzhidov while wilder did get stopped in the amateurs

edge AJ (probably)

7.Stamina: both are untested in that regard but wilder might be more prone to tiring himself out because he is more aggressive

unknown

8.footwork: wilder seems to have a little quicker feet naturally however he is sometimes off balance. AJ has better schooled footwork albeit he is not really fleet footed naturally

edge AJ

9.Gameplan and tactics: wilder is much more raw than AJ who already has a more mature approach

edge AJ

10.Punching precision: Again this goes to AJ. he is not super accurate and wastes some punches but due to his compact punches and better balances he wastes less punches than DW.

edge AJ

overall 6-2-2 in favor of joshua. However despite his age I think that wilder has a little more natural athleticism and more upside than AJ who is already very mature and a "finished product" in many cases, although he can take some fine tuning too.

my bet is still on AJ because he is younger, not a bad athlete either and much more mature. wilder is already 28 and might never be able to learn what AJ already can do since he is a pro.

AJ for me by a long way. Wilder seems to have amazing one punch power, but looks lacking in so many other departments. Given his length of time as a pro Wilder has fought no-one of note. His people obviously know there's something lacking in him and have manouvered him into a title shot against what they consider a weaker champion. His KO of Audley was impressive and terrible at the same time. It showed his power, but how little composure he had at the same time. I seriously expect Stiverene to finish him within a few rounds.

With AJ I just see a solid, composed heavyweight that is going places. He's got good punch variety, accuracy, composure and skill. I don' think he'll fold when hit back and has a good chance of making it to the top.

Who will be better? Too early to tell until either guy fights someone willing and able to fight back. Its hard to judge skills and power against tomato cans.

Badhusker wrote:Who will be better? Too early to tell until either guy fights someone willing and able to fight back. Its hard to judge skills and power against tomato cans.

I agree. Power is easy to fake against chinless bastards and skill is easy to fake against unskilled scrubs.

AJ is fighting better comp even though he's had over 20 less professional fights. I think it's safe to say that he'd be 32-0 with a 100% KO ratio too if he had D. Wilder's current resume.

The jury's still out on both fighters right now imo. But I see AJ having a great deal of potential.

yes, AJ already fights better opponents despite being a pro for less than two years.

still I think we can say that wilder has more power by the way he KOs those scrubs. AJ usually hits his opponents several times with full force before they go down and they get up a few times while wilder will swing and miss some but when he hits them they are down and out. I agree that you can fake power against scrubs by pure aggression but when opponents are really out on the first real hit that says something about your power even against scrubs.

everything else (except maybe handspeed) is in AJs favor though and thus I think he is the safer bet for becoming a champion while wilder has big upside but is more of a "project".

Joshua has already shown me more variety than Wilder has. Paw...paw....right hand may continue working for Wilder as his opponents get better, but I suspect he's going to need another plan eventually and I'm not sure he has one that he can effectively implement. Joshua has a more varied attack which involves a solid jab and right hand from the outside, shortened hooks and uppercuts inside, and more frequent bodywork and counterpunching, which I think makes him less predictable and leaves opponents with fewer viable strategies.

I also have more concerns about Wilder's chin than I do about Joshua's. This is largely because Deontay has been stopped heavily in the past, knocked down and hurt as a pro, and kept away from punchers, which to me suggests that his team believes that he's chinny. Joshua, on the other hand, was in with some major hitters in the amateurs and didn't shown me comparable signs of chin issues. He was dropped by Dyllian White very early in his amateur career, but I don't think that was so much of a chin problem as it was a balance issue, as he was leaning far back with he caught clipped with a hook. Both still have questions to answer about their chins, but tentatively I feel more confident that Joshua will respond better when that occurs.

I believe that Wilder probably hits harder, as Joshua seems to rely more on clubbing opponents into stoppages with barrages while Wilder more commonly only needs single shots, but Joshua seems to be quite heavy-handed himself and able to deliver his power in more varied ways. Both of them are untested in terms of stamina, and I'll be interested in seeing how they manage in that respect when they're extended further.

I think that Joshua would probably be 32-0 if he fought Deontay's opponents, and despite him having significantly fewer fights his level of opposition is quickly reaching Deontay's. There is a lot of speculation since both of them have won nearly all their bouts without problems and have yet to answer important questions, but I'd go for Joshua at this point without a huge deal of confidence.

crusader wrote:Joshua has shown me more variety already than Wilder has. Paw...paw....right hand may continue working for Wilder as his opponents get better, but I suspect he's going to need another plan eventually. Joshua has a more varied attack which involves a solid jab and right hand from the outside, shortened hooks and uppercuts inside, and more frequent bodywork and counterpunching, which I think leaves opponents with fewer viable strategies. I also have more concerns about Wilder's chin than I do about Joshua's. This is largely because Deontay has been stopped heavily in the past, knocked down and hurt as a pro, and kept away from punchers, which to me suggests that his team relise that he's chinny. Joshua, on the other hand, was in with some major hitters in the amateurs and didn't shown me comparable signs of chin issues. He was dropped by Dyllian White very early in his amateur career, but I don't think that was so much of a chin problem as it was a balance issue, as he was leaning far back with he caught clipped with a hook. Both still have questions to answer about their chins, but tentatively I feel more confident that Joshua will respond better when that occurs.

I believe that Wilder probably hits harder, as Joshua seems to rely more on clubbing opponents into stoppages with barrages while Wilder more commonly only needs single shots, but Joshua seems to be quite heavy-handed himself and able to deliver his power in more varied ways. Both of them are untested in terms of stamina, and I'll be interested in seeing how they manage in that respect when they're extended further.

I think that Joshua would probably be 32-0 if he fought Deontay's opponents, and despite him having significantly fewer fights his level of opposition is quickly reaching Deontay's. There is a lot of speculation since both of them have won nearly all their bouts without problems and have yet to answer important questions, but I'd go for Joshua at this point without a huge deal of confidence.

could wilders huge power have hurt his developement as a boxer a little bit? I think due his power often all he does is setting up his big right hand. of course he knows he has to box more but still this is hard to really get into your subconsciousness when you know you can have the win easier if you bomb the opponent out.

wilder just never saw the need to develope more variety because of his huge right and his handlers almost encouraged that by feeding him easy opponents. had he boxed some better opponents earlier he might have seen the need to develope more boxing than setting up that big right hand.

If Wilder beats Stiverne then all these comparisons to AJ goes out the window.

dwise26 wrote:If Wilder beats Stiverne then all these comparisons to AJ goes out the window.

why?

aj is a big plump body builder. wilder is a much better mover. wilder kos aj.

Wilder was the most exciting prospect 3 years ago. Now he is the biggest fraud.

I'm curious how skilled a young George Foreman was compared to Wilder or Joshua? He KO'd quite a few guys much more skilled than he was.

Chepppaaa wrote:aj is a big plump body builder. wilder is a much better mover. wilder kos aj.

Wilder is a much better mover than Joshua? .......... On the contrary!

The Law wrote:

Chepppaaa wrote:aj is a big plump body builder. wilder is a much better mover. wilder kos aj.

Wilder is a much better mover than Joshua? .......... On the contrary!

AJ is great on his feet. Wilder moves like a laboured lanky HW

Badhusker wrote:I'm curious how skilled a young George Foreman was compared to Wilder or Joshua? He KO'd quite a few guys much more skilled than he was.

He did? Outside of Chuvalo and Peralta there wasn't much on his resume before he got his title shot.

Many of Georges pre championship fights are available, so you can judge for yourself.

Newport Daz wrote:AJ for me by a long way. Wilder seems to have amazing one punch power, but looks lacking in so many other departments. Given his length of time as a pro Wilder has fought no-one of note. His people obviously know there's something lacking in him and have manouvered him into a title shot against what they consider a weaker champion. His KO of Audley was impressive and terrible at the same time. It showed his power, but how little composure he had at the same time. I seriously expect Stiverene to finish him within a few rounds.

With AJ I just see a solid, composed heavyweight that is going places. He's got good punch variety, accuracy, composure and skill. I don' think he'll fold when hit back and has a good chance of making it to the top.

This sums it up for me.

danconnollyeire wrote:

The Law wrote:

Chepppaaa wrote:aj is a big plump body builder. wilder is a much better mover. wilder kos aj.

Wilder is a much better mover than Joshua? .......... On the contrary!

AJ is great on his feet. Wilder moves like a laboured lanky HW

Im not so sure myself. Wilder isnt a great mover though. Wladimir is the best mover for his relative size in the heavyweight division I think.

wilders feet are not slow but uncoordinated. AJ has not super light feet but he has a well schooled footwork from his Amateur Background.

Too early to tell. Enjoy them whilst they here.

in the near future I can see wilder becoming one of the more dominating heavyweights out there, he's a proven knockout puncher and everyone loves them so immediately he is promoters dream and he's vocal about what annoys him and you can feel the hostility and aggression in his interviews and know because of his record he can back up what he is saying.

but all that said I can relate him to Mike Tyson another knockout puncher who not only intimidated but dominated his opponents and with that said we haven't seen him come up against a proven world class boxer, again relating how Tyson struggled against a style like Evander Holyfield had.

So that said I can see Joshua becoming a bigger champion in the long run, he has the amateur pedigree, the professional approach, all the right people supporting him career wise and at home and that's before you look at most of the UK rallying behind him. Then you look at his interviews and his attitude outside of the boxing ring and you couldn't ask for a better role model for young boxers and for the sport, he's humble but confident, professional and enthusiastic, dominating in the ring and respectful outside of it both to the public and in his interviews.

-Wilder will be fighting for a world title in his next fight.

-Joshua has plenty of time to get exposed before he gets to the level of where Wilder is at now.

Wilder is the better guy

GilFilmore wrote:-Wilder will be fighting for a world title in his next fight.

-Joshua has plenty of time to get exposed before he gets to the level of where Wilder is at now.

Wilder is the better guy

you could actually argue that AJ has already fought better or at least equal guys than wilder to date despite his short career so far. wilder only fought a bunch of has beens and scott who was a total no-show. scott is still probably better than AJs opponents but if you compare the other opponents it is rather Close despite AJ only being a pro for less than two years.

airich, bakhtov and even Skelton are not much worse if at all than the shot Versions of liakhovic and audley.

Wilder's power is the real deal.
Joshua appears to be talented, but like Wilder, remains raw. Did fellow Brit Harrison look any worse (or better) early on the way to eventual career oblivion?
Joshua-Wilder appears to be a very interesting encounter well down the road. But if history is our guide, I wouldn't want to see Joshua get in there with a puncher like Wilder and then reveal himself as just another chinny British heavy.

Badhusker wrote:I'm curious how skilled a young George Foreman was compared to Wilder or Joshua? He KO'd quite a few guys much more skilled than he was.

Foreman had a much higher work-rate than either and a better, more varied arsenal of punches: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdQdEhnWcDI