Is Anthony Joshua the worst of the best?

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BoxingMMA

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If you have two lists of HW champions that have mattered over the years and put in one list all the great champions who truly changed the sport, inside and outside of the ring. You would have guys like Lewis, Louis, Ali, Kiltchkos, Tyson, Fury, Holyfield, Usyk, Foreman, Bowe etc. you get my drift.

In the second list you have the guys who also mattered but common sonse would keep you from putting them on list A. We're talking the Michael Moorer's, John Ruiz' etc.

Naturally someone like Anthony Joshua, with a gold medal, a victory of shot Wladimir, filling out stadiums and being a relevant figure in the world of boxing for years, would easily be placed in the first list. You have to be a serious kind of hater to think otherwise.

My question is. Is he the worst of the list? He deserves to be in it but to me seems like the weakest strong heavyweight there's ever been.
 
He has no first-class wins. He, 27, beat 41yo Wlad in his final fight. That's the biggest feather in his cap.

That was his best run: Wlad, Takam, Parker, Povetkin. Then the embarrasing loss to Ruiz.

Took Usyk the distance twice, maybe even though he lost that was the pinnacle of his career.

Great fighters don't get KOed in the 5th round by Daniel 'Dynamite' Dubois. Not in their mid-thirties anyway.

Pulev was 39 when AJ fought him.

If AJ were to fight and beat Fury that would be cool, but he isn't and has never been a really influential or game-changing boxer.

Honestly he was never really the same after the Ruiz humiliation.
 
i would take Bowe and Fury out of your A list so to speak as well as Joshua

you are comparing great fighters to guys who bloomed for a short while
 
Yeah AJ never really beat a reigning champion unless you consider Parker's WBO belt at the time to be a legit championship (which he weirdly won Fury's vacant by facing Andy Ruiz of all people, solidifying against Razvan Cojanu (who?) and defending against the great Hughie Fury), or even crazier Charles Martin's IBF belt (which he won because the guy he was facing quit with a knee injury LOL)
 
Probably have to agree Fury and AJ both are not very strong candidates for the "great" list. Fury could have been but fucked around too much in his prime, leaving too many questions. Possibly the two worst on the "great" list with Fury having slight superiority and Joshua in last place.
 
Mujeriego said:
You'd have to make the entire list first before we could gauge it.
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The list is pretty much relevant champion. From all the way back. Think the guys they make movies of or documentaries. Every lineal champ or big name that was champ for a while. From Tyson to now it would be Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Lewis, klits, Joshua fury Usyk.

Not Rahman, Ruiz, Moorer etc…
 
My MMA buddies thought he was Ernie Shavers -He KTFO Francis? So when he then lost to Usyk their tiny brains imploded
 
BoxingMMA said:
If you have two lists of HW champions that have mattered over the years and put in one list all the great champions who truly changed the sport, inside and outside of the ring. You would have guys like Lewis, Louis, Ali, Kiltchkos, Tyson, Fury, Holyfield, Usyk, Foreman, Bowe etc. you get my drift.

In the second list you have the guys who also mattered but common sonse would keep you from putting them on list A. We're talking the Michael Moorer's, John Ruiz' etc.

Naturally someone like Anthony Joshua, with a gold medal, a victory of shot Wladimir, filling out stadiums and being a relevant figure in the world of boxing for years, would easily be placed in the first list. You have to be a serious kind of hater to think otherwise.

My question is. Is he the worst of the list? He deserves to be in it but to me seems like the weakest strong heavyweight there's ever been.
Click to expand...

How long did Ngannou last against Joshua and how long did he last against fury? How long did Otto Wallin last against Joshua and how long did he last against Fury?
 
Intermission said:
How long did Ngannou last against Joshua and how long did he last against fury? How long did Otto Wallin last against Joshua and how long did he last against Fury?
Click to expand...
It doesn't work like that. Styles make fights and Fury isn't a big puncher or a finisher. Joshua, on the other hand, is both of those things.
 
people love to hate on him, but before usyk, AJ was the only champ actually fighting anyone worth a fuck at HW, and hunting the other champs. fury was content fighting chisora every 6 months, wilder was smashing nobodies (and luis ortiz), and ortiz was too busy with his "heart medication" to fight joshua - so ruiz walked in. fury only signed to fight AJ when he knew he wasn't legally allowed to do it, and wilder walked out of a 100M deal to "bet on himself". both avoided him like the plague.

AJ has very clear faults, his defense and his ability to take heavy shots being the obvious two... but he is still skilled offensively and he swings fucking sledgehammers with both hands. he can beat anyone, on any given night. maybe he's done now, but he's still had a pretty great career, all things considered. ruiz got him good, but AJ came back like a champ and took him to school. and there is no shame in losing to usyk, he put up a valiant effort.

i think overall he's done very well for himself. maybe he doesn't belong on lists with guys like ali or tyson, but that's a very small club.
 
randomg1t said:
fury only signed to fight AJ when he knew he wasn't legally allowed to do it
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Exactly. Team Fury knew full well ahead of time that the arbitrator would legally compel him to fight Wilder in the trilogy instead of AJ. Bob Arum knew it, too. He just pretended like it wouldn't be an issue going into the AJ fight negotiations.
 
Intermission said:
How much did Otto Wallin hurt Fury and how much did he hurt Joshua?
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You can’t play that game. How much did Joe Frazier hurt Ali? How much did Foreman hurt Frazier? By that logic foreman would have destroyed Ali. Same with pacman vs hatton and DLH compared to Floyd vs both?

Mosley nearly knocks out Floyd. Shit happens.


randomg1t said:
people love to hate on him, but before usyk, AJ was the only champ actually fighting anyone worth a fuck at HW, and hunting the other champs. fury was content fighting chisora every 6 months, wilder was smashing nobodies (and luis ortiz), and ortiz was too busy with his "heart medication" to fight joshua - so ruiz walked in. fury only signed to fight AJ when he knew he wasn't legally allowed to do it, and wilder walked out of a 100M deal to "bet on himself". both avoided him like the plague.

AJ has very clear faults, his defense and his ability to take heavy shots being the obvious two... but he is still skilled offensively and he swings fucking sledgehammers with both hands. he can beat anyone, on any given night. maybe he's done now, but he's still had a pretty great career, all things considered. ruiz got him good, but AJ came back like a champ and took him to school. and there is no shame in losing to usyk, he put up a valiant effort.

i think overall he's done very well for himself. maybe he doesn't belong on lists with guys like ali or tyson, but that's a very small club.
Click to expand...

That’s the point of the thread. I actually believe he does belong on that list of great fighters. I wouldn’t put him on the other list. My question is if he is the worst of that very prestigious list.
 
BoxingMMA said:
You can’t play that game. How much did Joe Frazier hurt Ali? How much did Foreman hurt Frazier? By that logic foreman would have destroyed Ali. Same with pacman vs hatton and DLH compared to Floyd vs both?
Click to expand...
Frazier was a world class fighter. Otto Wallin is a journey man
 
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