Joshua could become the most popular boxer of this century

[IronFrost]

Let's be honest he is in early stage in his career and already fights all top names , selling arenas like crazy.

He is also a good boy who is not talking so much crap and people love him. Even my sister started being fan of him (she never liked boxing- SEXISM by her?:D)

He is mixed breed of Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson.

Klitschko brothers , Floyd Mayweather and many others were not on this level at so early stage of their careers. He is already breaking their fornicating records.


Imagine if he destroys Parker , than smashes Povetkin and than beats Deontay Wilder. (He should fight that Chinese dragon too)

He will become even more popular.


Joshua is the champion who almost everyone wanted.


Wladimir was a good champion but he was so boring that almost everyone felt that HW boxing was dead.

People wanted KILLER like Tyson in HW division and it could be Anthony Joshua

[Badhusker]

True, most people would rather boxers do their talking in the ring. Quiet guys like Joshua and Loma are a breath of fresh air, but if they lose we will see if their popularity remains as high.

Most seem to hate the loudmouth Wilder, but many forget how extremely hated Ali was for most of his career. Far more than Floyd or Wilder ever was over-all. As long as the loudmouths can back up what they claim, I'm OK with them spouting off.

[pablothunder]

Over 80 years to go and the previous century had a few stars; so it might be a bit early for predictions but maybe he will, maybe he will, who could possibly say?

[gilgamesh]

Yeah I doubt it very much. The most popular boxers have usually had more colorful personalities than Joshua. I figure over the course of the rest of the century there'll be MANY more popular boxers that come along.

It's only 17 years into the century and even now Joshua would have several names ahead of him as far as "More popular" goes, though he's gaining ground with each performance at this stage obviously.

[Ilya Muromets]

Let's be honest bla bla bla

Couldn't you perhaps have found a pre-existing thread about Joshua to append your brilliant insights about him on to instead of starting yet another one of your countless stupid threads?

[SenorPipino]

So far it doesn't appear that Joshua is even the most popular athlete in his own country.

Last month, the prestigious 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year ended with the famous Mo Farah triumphing.
I learned that Farah is a four-time Olympic track champion and he garnered 83,524 fan votes to edge a superbike rider by the name of Jonathon Rea (80,567).

In third place was a para-athlete (that's means he's handicapped) and dancing show contestant Jonnie Peacock with 73,429 votes.

And after Peacock, the heavyweight champion of the world (at least the part of the world that Wilder and Parker don't live in) finally makes an appearance. Joshua picked up 73,411 votes from his devoted fans.

So if you think that Joshua may become the most popular boxer of this century, be advised that he has a lot of work to do.

Can you imagine Muhammad Ali losing a popularity contest to guys named Farah, Rea and Peacock?

[Mimmy]

So far it doesn't appear that Joshua is even the most popular athlete in his own country.

Last month, the prestigious 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year ended with the famous Mo Farah triumphing.
I learned that Farah is a four-time Olympic track champion and he garnered 83,524 fan votes to edge a superbike rider by the name of Jonathon Rea (80,567).

In third place was a para-athlete (that's means he's handicapped) and dancing show contestant Jonnie Peacock with 73,429 votes.

And after Peacock, the heavyweight champion of the world (at least the part of the world that Wilder and Parker don't live in) finally makes an appearance. Joshua picked up 73,411 votes from his devoted fans.

So if you think that Joshua may become the most popular boxer of this century, be advised that he has a lot of work to do.

Can you imagine Muhammad Ali losing a popularity contest to guys named Farah, Rea and Peacock?

Dont you think this is because Joshua is mostly on PPV tv where as Mo Farrah is on BBC most of the time when he competes either in The Great north Run, The London Marathon or cross country events that are also broadcast on BBC.

Mo Farrah has had more terrestrial tv coverage and again so has Motorbike racing too which is on 'public' tv channels throughout of the UK.

Anthony Joshua is huge in the UK but lets not forget unless you want to pay to see his prezza conferences you cannot view and if you are not familiar with Youtube again you cant view him freely.

Muhammad Ali was a different kettle of fish, he also had plenty of free tv time but was an icon for many reasons back in the 70's.


24 million people in the UK watched Mo in his last Olympics free!

[MaxiBoxc]

No, he couldn't. Because Lomachenko.

[Badhusker]

Just remember that fans are fickle, and bandwagons load up and dump pretty quickly. Joshua, or quite a few of the top boxers are a couple of losses away from being called bums by fans. Imagine if Joshua loses to Parker, then gets KO'd or loses to Wilder or Ortiz? Well, he is young enough to come back, but his stock would severely plummet.

Does the title of the thread say CENTURY? That is actually funny, but then I saw who the OP was....

[candyslim]

Nail on head Mimmy. I recently asked my uncle (a young and spritely seventy something) whether he ever watches "You-tube" and the answer I got was "What's that then?".

I think you'd get pretty much the same answer from many people a hell of a lot younger too.

[Mimmy]

Nail on head Mimmy. I recently asked my uncle (a young and spritely seventy something) whether he ever watches "You-tube" and the answer I got was "What's that then?".

I think you'd get pretty much the same answer from many people a hell of a lot younger too.

My mum is 70 odd, If I asked her Who Anthony Joshua is I'm quite sure she wouldnt know. But mo Farrah, of course. I'm guessing too that most people who vote on SPOTY are of a certain age, just like the people who vote on X-Factor

Im quite sure if you ask any person between the ages of 15 to 50 you will get a high percentage of people who will know who AJ is, people of the ages 60 - 80 possibly a very small percentage but they are the numbers who will tune into BBC religiously.

[Enlightened-One]

Anthony Joshua is a big name in the sport of boxing and his fights are very lucrative for Matchroom and also Sky Sports.

However, it’s possible that other fighters in the UK (i.e. David Haye & Amir Khan), are more popular/well-known to the mainstream, because they have gained more exposure to that audience by appearing on terrestrial TV networks more frequently, such as making several appearances on reality TV and chat shows.

For instance, more people watched David Haye engage in mismatches (via the niche satellite channel Dave) against the likes of Mark de Mori (3m) and Arnold Gjergjaj (2.5m) than when AJ was fought the likes of Jason Gavern (139K) and Raphael Zumbano Love (124K) on non-PPV Sky Sports broadcasts.

Even though Anthony Joshua’s popularity has grown since then, he still hasn’t made enough appearances on terrestrial TV to build his brand.

Time is on AJ’s side and it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that he can eventually gain a fan-base on a level to what Frank Bruno and Ricky Hatton used to achieve (and I'm not just talking about stadium attendance figures either), but he has a long way to go, despite the extraordinary amount of hype and coverage that has been lavished upon him by Sky Sports.

For sure, Anthony Joshua could potentially overtake Canelo to become the biggest (lucrative) name currently involved in boxing, but I think it’s unrealistic for him to build his brand to a level that generates financials comparable to the sort of numbers achieved by Floyd Mayweather Jr.

[tigermoth87]

It's this reason why Hearn will do all he can to avoid putting him in with Fury.

When Fury beats him, say bye to the cash cow. His stock will plummet.

A loss to a foreign fighter won't harm him much. But been made to be Britain's 2nd best will.

[SenorPipino]

So far it doesn't appear that Joshua is even the most popular athlete in his own country.

Last month, the prestigious 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year ended with the famous Mo Farah triumphing.
I learned that Farah is a four-time Olympic track champion and he garnered 83,524 fan votes to edge a superbike rider by the name of Jonathon Rea (80,567).

In third place was a para-athlete (that's means he's handicapped) and dancing show contestant Jonnie Peacock with 73,429 votes.

And after Peacock, the heavyweight champion of the world (at least the part of the world that Wilder and Parker don't live in) finally makes an appearance. Joshua picked up 73,411 votes from his devoted fans.

So if you think that Joshua may become the most popular boxer of this century, be advised that he has a lot of work to do.

Can you imagine Muhammad Ali losing a popularity contest to guys named Farah, Rea and Peacock?

Dont you think this is because Joshua is mostly on PPV tv where as Mo Farrah is on BBC most of the time when he competes either in The Great north Run, The London Marathon or cross country events that are also broadcast on BBC.

Mo Farrah has had more terrestrial tv coverage and again so has Motorbike racing too which is on 'public' tv channels throughout of the UK.

Anthony Joshua is huge in the UK but lets not forget unless you want to pay to see his prezza conferences you cannot view and if you are not familiar with Youtube again you cant view him freely.

Muhammad Ali was a different kettle of fish, he also had plenty of free tv time but was an icon for many reasons back in the 70's.


24 million people in the UK watched Mo in his last Olympics free!

Did you know that British bookmakers had made Joshua an overwhelming 1-10 favorite to walk away with the BBC award?

A lot of people were absolutely stunned that Joshua lost to a trio of athletes who aren't household names internationally.

It simply could be that even in the UK, boxing is a niche sport and a fighter--including a heavyweight champion---simply isn't as revered as many want to believe.

And yes, Ali resided in a different universe compared to any athlete before or since, but I was simply addressing the OP's contention that Joshua could become the most popular boxer of the 21st Century.

That's a pretty lofty plateau to eventually occupy if you're currently not even the most popular sports figure in your own country.

[Mimmy]

So far it doesn't appear that Joshua is even the most popular athlete in his own country.

Last month, the prestigious 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year ended with the famous Mo Farah triumphing.
I learned that Farah is a four-time Olympic track champion and he garnered 83,524 fan votes to edge a superbike rider by the name of Jonathon Rea (80,567).

In third place was a para-athlete (that's means he's handicapped) and dancing show contestant Jonnie Peacock with 73,429 votes.

And after Peacock, the heavyweight champion of the world (at least the part of the world that Wilder and Parker don't live in) finally makes an appearance. Joshua picked up 73,411 votes from his devoted fans.

So if you think that Joshua may become the most popular boxer of this century, be advised that he has a lot of work to do.

Can you imagine Muhammad Ali losing a popularity contest to guys named Farah, Rea and Peacock?

Dont you think this is because Joshua is mostly on PPV tv where as Mo Farrah is on BBC most of the time when he competes either in The Great north Run, The London Marathon or cross country events that are also broadcast on BBC.

Mo Farrah has had more terrestrial tv coverage and again so has Motorbike racing too which is on 'public' tv channels throughout of the UK.

Anthony Joshua is huge in the UK but lets not forget unless you want to pay to see his prezza conferences you cannot view and if you are not familiar with Youtube again you cant view him freely.

Muhammad Ali was a different kettle of fish, he also had plenty of free tv time but was an icon for many reasons back in the 70's.


24 million people in the UK watched Mo in his last Olympics free!

Did you know that British bookmakers had made Joshua an overwhelming 1-10 favorite to walk away with the BBC award?

A lot of people were absolutely stunned that Joshua lost to a trio of athletes who aren't household names internationally.

It simply could be that even in the UK, boxing is a niche sport and a fighter--including a heavyweight champion---simply isn't as revered as many want to believe.

And yes, Ali resided in a different universe compared to any athlete before or since, but I was simply addressing the OP's contention that Joshua could become the most popular boxer of the 21st Century.

That's a pretty lofty plateau to eventually occupy if you're currently not even the most popular sports figure in your own country.

Im not a betting man and didnt look at the bookies odd, but to me Mo Farrah was favourite to win. I even said to my mrs before hand that It was a cert Mo would win for his achievements over the year. Someone said Mo was 40/1 to win it if that was the case im gutted I never had a bet on him.

I still stand by my theory the reason why AJ didnt win. Of course the bookies can predict who they think is the favorite but its the people making the votes that choose who wins.

AJ will be SPOTY if he carries on winning this year unless someone with more importance comes out and takes it such as a England world cup player who goes on and scores 10 goals and holds aloft the world cup.

[candyslim]

Nail on head Mimmy. I recently asked my uncle (a young and spritely seventy something) whether he ever watches "You-tube" and the answer I got was "What's that then?".

I think you'd get pretty much the same answer from many people a hell of a lot younger too.

My mum is 70 odd, If I asked her Who Anthony Joshua is I'm quite sure she wouldnt know. But mo Farrah, of course. I'm guessing too that most people who vote on SPOTY are of a certain age, just like the people who vote on X-Factor

Im quite sure if you ask any person between the ages of 15 to 50 you will get a high percentage of people who will know who AJ is, people of the ages 60 - 80 possibly a very small percentage but they are the numbers who will tune into BBC religiously.

I think it's that same 60 - 80 demographic who can remember when the BBC's contribution to sporting entertainment extended beyond the annual Sports personality farce.

I had no preconception about who was going to win it because I've not watched it this century, and generally don't give a flying one, but I must confess to feeling a bit aggrieved on hearing how Joshua's achievements had been dismissed, when as a boxing fan and no doubt hopelessly biased, I see the Heavyweight Champion of the world as being synonymous with the Champion of Sport.

[SenorPipino]

I think that the heavyweight champion being "synonymous with the champion of sport" probably ended in the 90s with the Tyson era.

Although mainstream fans may have been familiar with the names of Bowe, Holyfield, Lewis and possibly even Klitschko, I doubt a very high percentage could accurately tell you who the champion was during those times.

Since Ali, maybe only Tyson was a household name. And his outside the ring antics contributed to his familiarity.

Even a talented, long reigning champion like Holmes was practically unknown to those who didn't follow the sport. Too bland.

It will take a special heavyweight champion with not only elite talent but a charismatic personality to match, to gain the public awareness that champions from generations ago did.

[Kalan]

the heavyweight champion being "synonymous with the champion of sport" ..... ended in the 90s with the Tyson era

It was never the case that the Heavyweight Champion was champion of sport... It's who the Heavyweight Champion was and how charismatic his was... Nobody got too excited about Jack Sharkey or Jimmy Braddock.

Dempsey was more revered and popular than Tunney.... Louis was more revered and popular than Charles or Walcott. Marciano looked like the fry cook at the local eatery or the clerk at the corner store - nobody your dad couldn't beat.

Johansson was a sensation - even though he was a foreigner. He was a heroic looking figure with a thunderous right hand. He was instantly in demand for TV appearances, singing, talk shows, commercials, whatever. He had a busy schedule. He could barely speak English, but he would come on, smile and utter some prefab lines and people cheered. When dull assed Patterson crushed Ingo in the rematch people weren't too happy about it.

Liston was a frightening character to many..... Clay/Ali was a good looking guy and a lot of people liked him despite his arrogance.... Frazier was liked because Ali haters saw Joe as a savior..... Holmes may have been the best Heavyweight up to his day, but he was widely disliked.... Tyson was like Dempsey. A snarling animal who destroyed people.... Holyfield was a bit like Holmes and wasn't the cat's meow.... Bowe was a dumb fuk who refused to fight Lewis.... Lewis may have been the best Heavyweight up to his day, but he was dismissed as a chinny pretender. Many believed Tyson would flatten him. When Tyson was destroyed people cried. This was silly but it's like Mighty Casey striking out .... people need a hero.

The Klitschko Bros were heroes to many in other parts of the world. But disliked by most Americans because of the Eastern European connection and Ivan Drago comparisons. People waited forever for somebody to beat them, but didn't want it to be Tyson Fury... Fury didn't look or sound the part.... Like Holmes maybe, a very disrespectful man.

The interesting thing is most people (who didn't live in the UK) wanted Klitschko to beat Joshua.. I couldn't figure that out... Here's a guy who had been around forever, but at 41 he was finally getting the respect of fans.. Maybe they thought AJ had too few fights, hadn't been tested.. They wanted him to get bombed out and raised the roof when he got floored and hurt.. Americans that is -- but since AJ came through that fight with flying colors he's earned a lot of respect.

There hasn't been a foreign Heavyweight outside of Johansson who grabbed the public's attention bull blast... Joshua may become the first Brit to get that respect in the US when he destroys Wilder... That's this generation's Ali-Frazier Fight.

[squiggy]

Let's be honest he is in early stage in his career and already fights all top names...

I know it was cool that he took a string of guys' 0's by knockout, but if you're going anywhere near the long view necessary to talk about whole freakin' centuries, you have to acknowledge that his resume at this point is basically Wlad and 19 guys who won't be remembered for anything.

[littlepug]

Let's be honest he is in early stage in his career and already fights all top names...

I know it was cool that he took a string of guys' 0's by knockout, but if you're going anywhere near the long view necessary to talk about whole freakin' centuries, you have to acknowledge that his resume at this point is basically Wlad and 19 guys who won't be remembered for anything.

Bang on, boxing fans thought history (myself included) have always been too quick to crown the next TBE, we get caught up in all the excitement of the hype machine and stop noticing the flaws, put it this way, when Tyson was in his prime I literally thought he was unbeatable, I don't feel that way at all about Joshua,

[Kalan]

Let's be honest he is in early stage in his career and already fights all top names...

I know it was cool that he took a string of guys' 0's by knockout, but if you're going anywhere near the long view necessary to talk about whole freakin' centuries, you have to acknowledge that his resume at this point is basically Wlad and 19 guys who won't be remembered for anything.

Bang on, boxing fans thought history (myself included) have always been too quick to crown the next TBE, we get caught up in all the excitement of the hype machine and stop noticing the flaws, put it this way, when Tyson was in his prime I literally thought he was unbeatable, I don't feel that way at all about Joshua

I never thought Tyson was unbeatable.. I don't even think Joshua is unbeatable.. NOBODY is unbeatable... How could anyone think Tyson was unbeatable when he'd never fought a big, tall, strong, fast, smart, skilled, motivated, confident dude like Buster Douglas???. When Douglas watched the Tyson-Tucker fight he said, "I KNOW I can beat Tyson."

Nobody believed Buster but his mom and dad... Buster's friends didn't even believed him.. That really pissed him off... If you're a top professional boxer, you know... You don't need to be justified by somebody else's opinion... Tyson was short, light, and hittable.. He wasn't super skilled and his game obviously had holes in it.. That doesn't spell unbeatable.

[Lackeos]

I never used to respond to bnovelist's troll threads. Then I just realized that IronFrost's troll thread topics aren't that different from bnovelist's; and also IronFrost has been posting for about as long as bnovelist has not been posting.

You're bnovelist, bruh.

[littlepug]

I know it was cool that he took a string of guys' 0's by knockout, but if you're going anywhere near the long view necessary to talk about whole freakin' centuries, you have to acknowledge that his resume at this point is basically Wlad and 19 guys who won't be remembered for anything.

Bang on, boxing fans thought history (myself included) have always been too quick to crown the next TBE, we get caught up in all the excitement of the hype machine and stop noticing the flaws, put it this way, when Tyson was in his prime I literally thought he was unbeatable, I don't feel that way at all about Joshua

I never thought Tyson was unbeatable.. I don't even think Joshua is unbeatable.. NOBODY is unbeatable... How could anyone think Tyson was unbeatable when he'd never fought a big, tall, strong, fast, smart, skilled, motivated, confident dude like Buster Douglas???. When Douglas watched the Tyson-Tucker fight he said, "I KNOW I can beat Tyson."

Nobody believed Buster but his mom and dad... Buster's friends didn't even believed him.. That really pissed him off... If you're a top professional boxer, you know... You don't need to be justified by somebody else's opinion... Tyson was short, light, and hittable.. He wasn't super skilled and his game obviously had holes in it.. That doesn't spell unbeatable.

I think you're wrong, for at least a millisecond the hype around Tyson was 100 times what Joshua is experiencing now

[SenorPipino]

Tyson was an internationally recognized celebrity, even among those who didn't give a damn about boxing.

Joshua is recognized in the UK but elsewhere, unless you're a boxing fan, his name draws blank stares.

[HomicideHenry]

I see something in AJ that can be exposed and I believe Tyson Fury can make him appear rather ordinary. Even if AJ gets passed Parker and Wilder, at the end of the day they have always been considered second or third string champions. Not to write them off, because I believe that Parker especially has a shot at making Joshua look foolish.