BoxRec

I'll be honest lads as soft as the subject title sounds, if this Pulev fight happens ill be bitterly disappointed going from one of the most exciting HW fights to a clinch fest is depressing !

What do you guys feel?

I like to think I'm pragmatic about it. At this moment with everyone who he could potentially fight Joshua doesn't have that many 'big' fights. Wilder is one, Fury is another albeit with massive caveats about his time out of the ring, shape and health. Beyond them two? There are 'name' fights like Haye but I don't think anyone believes Haye has much hope in the fight. Wlad is gone. Parker is so much smaller and gets hit far too much by a monster like Joshua to have a serious chance. Talk of Ward is nonsense. Hughie is very green. Ortiz is, for me, overrated but not a terrible shout, probably in the same vein as Pulev. As for Povetkin, god knows.

Therefore I accept he is going to have average fights and not every fight can be huge. To be fair this has always been the case. Lewis may very well have fought Holyfield and Tyson but he also went in with the likes of Mavrovic and Botha. Holyfield was in some legendary fights but you can't keep active against the absolute elite, hence Czyz and Bean.

No, but how much better can it realistically get? People talk like the division is loaded with talent now, but Pulev is still near the top.

Very good opponent for Joshua.

Anyone who slags this fight off should suggest 5 opponents that they think are better.

It would be Joshua's 2nd best opponent and a win would boost his record hugely.

Whet

Sklar wrote:Whet

Quite right.

Sklar wrote:Whet

What

I like this fight. Pulev is not a clincher, he is a jabber. Not too exciting in style but he would be the only top level opponent for AJ so far, other then 40 years old Klitschko. I like to see how he deals with Pulev.

After this maybe he can lure Wilder in the ring. If not, Ortiz. And in the end Parker/Hughie winner.

Boxerbeetle wrote:

Sklar wrote:Whet

What

Very whitty

CaptainSpacerod wrote:

Boxerbeetle wrote:

Sklar wrote:Whet

What

Very whitty

You mean whetty

It's a solid opponent. Other than maybe Wilder, I don't any opponent could have lived up to Wlad

BitPlayer wrote:It's a solid opponent. Other than maybe Wilder, I don't any opponent could have lived up to Wlad

Wlad's far better than Wilder.

It's all downhill from here.

Horse wrote:

BitPlayer wrote:It's a solid opponent. Other than maybe Wilder, I don't any opponent could have lived up to Wlad

Wlad's far better than Wilder.

It's all downhill from here.

Gotta wait for those prospects to ripen.

Who realistically do you's see challenging AJ prospect wise? Certainly Dubois is on his way...but that's a LONG way.

There's really not all that much out there in terms of good opponents. The division is about as weak as it was when people moaned about it during Wlad's reign..

crusader wrote:There's really not all that much out there in terms of good opponents. The division is about as weak as it was when people moaned about it during Wlad's reign..

I don't think people moaned about the division being weak as much as they moaned about Wlad having a horrible, safety first, brutally boring approach.

Heavyweight boxing was absolutely booming when you had Mike Tyson destroying mismatched opposition in a few rounds. It's just what people like.

People moaned all the time about the quality of his opposition, how poor the division generally was, and how he was never in competitive fights. When he faced Haye there was loads of 'oh, finally he's facing a decent opponent'.

TheGingerBomber wrote:Gotta wait for those prospects to ripen.

Who realistically do you's see challenging AJ prospect wise? Certainly Dubois is on his way...but that's a LONG way.

What prospects?

Joshua fighting top 5 available opposition is all that he can do and all of those opponents have a real chance against him.

Joshua is not the perfect fighting machine. He clearly has flaws and he can be beaten.

Pulev is a top 5 opponent and he is a genuine threat.

Yes, i think Pulev can beat Joshua.

crusader wrote:People moaned all the time about the quality of his opposition, how poor the division generally was, and how he was never in competitive fights. When he faced Haye there was loads of 'oh, finally he's facing a decent opponent'.

I'm not saying it wasn't mentioned but if Wlad was steamrollering people in the way fighters who tend to be really popular was doing then he'd have been champion in a far more favourably looked upon time.

I'm not sure that Wlad crushing his opponents in a more entertaining manner would lead people to rate his opposition higher, and my point was about opposition. There was loads of criticism of who Wlad fought and who was out there to fight, and it wasn't insignificant compared to the volume of criticism he got for his style.

Boxerbeetle wrote:

Sklar wrote:Whet

What

Pardon

crusader wrote:I'm not sure that Wlad crushing his opponents in a more entertaining manner would lead people to rate his opposition higher, and my point was about opposition. There was loads of criticism of who Wlad fought and who was out there to fight, and it wasn't insignificant compared to the volume of criticism he got for his style.

I know your point was about opposition. My point was that he did himself no favours with his style.

Remember the Ibragimov fight? He won easy but it was so boring. Tyson had opponents like Ibragimov and he destroyed them. Like it or not if you want to be absolutely massive you need to be wrecking people or getting involved in wars unless you're a Floyd type who people pay to see lose.

No doubt

And, despite being slated continually, the guys he could've crushed in more entertaining fashion were not really much weaker, if at all, than the guys around today. The overall quality of today's division is pretty poor, at least if the same is to be said about the division during Wlad's reign. That's why I don't see how opponents like Pulev can be deemed weak challengers; there's just not that much out there.

crusader wrote:No doubt

And, despite being slated continually, the guys he could've crushed in more entertaining fashion were not really much weaker, if at all, than the guys around today. The overall quality of today's division is pretty poor, at least if the same is to be said about the division during Wlad's reign. That's why I don't see how opponents like Pulev can be deemed weak challengers; there's just not that much out there.

I'm a Joshua hater, but any attempt to call Joshua a bottom-feeder for fighting someone like Pulev is absolute garbage.

He's one of the best opponents available.

I agree

IMO AJ has been matched pretty well. His rate of progression has certainly been much, much faster than those of rival Ortiz and Wilder.