Todays HW's are soo crap

[KAZSoliloquy]

fury yeah maybe but AJ is not a good boxer man he is not skilled, only a result of good timing. The only thing I respect about him its how keeps winning with all his flaws. At least is athletic and know how to use his size but that's all. I'm 100 percent sure bonecrusher smith would be a nightmare for him.

i don't think bonecrusher is a nightmare for anyone really. he was a big wily guy with deceptive power but incredibly hittable and not mobile at all. he'd be a sitting duck for most of the top HW's today, especially considering their size

 

[Woldog]

In 10 years we'll be saying we miss the Klitschko Era.

 

[sweetviolenturg]

FIFY

<45>

Thanks, bro. LOL.

 

[sweetviolenturg]

man those guys could be champs nowadays even bonecrusher smith

I'm 100 percent sure bonecrusher smith would be a nightmare for him.

i don't think bonecrusher is a nightmare for anyone really. he was a big wily guy with deceptive power but incredibly hittable and not mobile at all. he'd be a sitting duck for most of the top HW's today, especially considering their size

Well, gentlemen, I worked with James on a couple of occasions as a second in his corner ( for his fights with Jose "Nino" Ribalta & Manoel de Almeida ) & I followed his entire career from his first pro fight vs James Broad on ESPN to his final pro fight vs Larry Holmes on PPV. So, I believe I have an accurate grasp of how good he was & I think the truth lies somewhere in between your two takes.

James was, of course, an excellent puncher with better boxing skills than he was given credit for. But he was also stubborn about using them because he was convinced that his power would always bail him out. So, he would often wait around waiting for the opportunity to score a KO & be outboxed/outfought in the process. Sometimes he'd be able to dig himself out of a big hole by scoring a KO late in the fight as he did against Bruno but all too often he'd lose decisions to fighters that he could have beat had he been a bit busier & fought a bit smarter.

If James were fighting today he'd have a legit puncher's chance against anyone in the division but he'd likely wind up making the same mistakes that he made back in his day & he'd wind up going about .500 against the heavyweights of today.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

why? give me a reason why you consider joshua better than bruno. Guy has just basic skills, he compensate his mediocre technique with other attributes like size and power

They have comparable power, jabs and chins but Joshua is taller/rangier, hes quicker, more athletic, his shots are crisper and he puts them together better, and hes a smarter, more adaptable fighter. Can you imagine Frank taking a bad loss then coming back six months later with an entirely different gameplan and boxing a near shutout against the same guy? he didnt have the versatility, maturity or nerve to do that.

As far as resumes go, Bruno didnt have AJs amateur success, and even though he retired having had almost twice as many fights as AJ has had so far, what were his big wins? McCall? Carl Williams? Coatzee?

He was a nice guy who is remembered fondly, but hes also a perfect example of why that era, while obviously stronger overall, wasnt pure killers.

 

[Rob-G]

There's always someone who wants to complain about the state of the heavyweight division. It goes back generations as there always seems to be a disgruntled lot of fans who long for the days of the past. During the Joe Louis era, they longed for the days of Dempsey. During Ali's era, they longed for the days of Marciano & during the Holmes era, they longed for the days of Ali. Now there are those who long for the days of Mike Tyson. They never seem to appreciate what they have.

Me? I think the current heavyweight division is pretty deep. We've got the top of the class like Fury, Wilder, Joshua, Ruiz, Ortiz, Usyk & Povetkin. The guys coming up behind them quickly like Hunter, Joyce, Dubois, Hrgovic, Gassiev & Yoka. And then a really good young prospect in Jared Anderson who's probably only a year away from beating a lot of them. So, what's to hate? Sure, many of the fighters I listed have flaws but there's never been an era when the heavyweights didn't have flaws. So, I say enjoy what you've got while you've got it because you can't go back.

This is what I wanted to say lol! But I couldn’t have worded it better than this. 10/10 post! Thank you!

I’ve honestly been LOVING the HW division lately

 

[Jonny Ninja]

why? give me a reason why you consider joshua better than bruno. Guy has just basic skills, he compensate his mediocre technique with other attributes like size and power

mentality, gas tank and power for a start. Bruno fell apart against any good boxer that he couldn’t knock out (Witherspoon, smith and even McCall after all if his problems). He’d already lost both fights against Tyson before he got in the ring because he didn’t think he could win
Frank had a very good jab, I can’t think what else he was better at

 

[aries]

why? give me a reason why you consider joshua better than bruno. Guy has just basic skills, he compensate his mediocre technique with other attributes like size and power

Why? Because Joshua came with a completely different gameplan against a guy in Ruiz who starched him the first time they met. But the second outing was a shut out for Joshua. Bruno never once showed any adaptability. They aren't even close. Now 10 times out of 10 that Ruiz and Joshua would meet it would be the same result.

 

[toogreen]

these days the “glamour divisions” are not worth watching for the hardcore boxing fans

SuperFly is where it’s at

 

[JSN]

Why? Because Joshua came with a completely different gameplan against a guy in Ruiz who starched him the first time they met. But the second outing was a shut out for Joshua. Bruno never once showed any adaptability. They aren't even close. Now 10 times out of 10 that Ruiz and Joshua would meet it would be the same result.

one caveat one has to make though is that Ruiz showed up ridiculously fat and out of shape for the rematch.

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

Man I watched all the best hw boxers and they sucks so hard, the only one I respect is fury because he moves so well for such a big man but the rest are a bunch of cans no technique robotics, bad cardio. It seems that they only focus on weight llifting and shit.. this Anthony joshua guy man he is not better than Frank bruno, and bruno was an ok boxer, so predictable and robotic, poor cardio all muscles, he always throw the same type of punches.
Wilder a bum with power
ruiz has some skills but is a fat piece of shit
chisora slow and out of proper shape for fighting.
Usyk ok
Dubois robotic and slow, predictable no skilled
This nigerian dude can't remember his name another bum with no skills
It's just sad how bad these guys are compared to boxers from the past.
Larry holmes was miles ahead in skills compared to these

It might get much more interesting in 3-4 years after scrolling through this thread:
https://forums.sherdog.com/posts/162248765
There's still hope for the "baddest man on the planet" title yet.

 

[aries]

one caveat one has to make though is that Ruiz showed up ridiculously fat and out of shape for the rematch.

He did but I think that would have made little difference to the result. Ruiz had fast hands but his feet were always really slow.

 

[svmVR2097]

Man I watched all the best hw boxers and they sucks so hard, the only one I respect is fury because he moves so well for such a big man but the rest are a bunch of cans no technique robotics, bad cardio. It seems that they only focus on weight llifting and shit.. this Anthony joshua guy man he is not better than Frank bruno, and bruno was an ok boxer, so predictable and robotic, poor cardio all muscles, he always throw the same type of punches.
Wilder a bum with power
ruiz has some skills but is a fat piece of shit
chisora slow and out of proper shape for fighting.
Usyk ok
Dubois robotic and slow, predictable no skilled
This nigerian dude can't remember his name another bum with no skills
It's just sad how bad these guys are compared to boxers from the past.
Larry holmes was miles ahead in skills compared to these

Come end of the month Fury will have 1 top 10 win in the past 5 years where as Joshua will have 6 if you count the first Whyte fight, maybe 7 if you consider Takam at the time in there.

If Joshua beats Pulev, he'll have 5 of the current top 10 on his resume while Fury will have just Wilder.

 

[svmVR2097]

one caveat one has to make though is that Ruiz showed up ridiculously fat and out of shape for the rematch.

Duran partied after his Leonard win and in the biggest and most lucrative fight of his career for the rematch got embarrassed. There was no way that someone did not point that out to Ruiz in the leadup to the Joshua rematch. If he didn't prepare for the fight, thats on him. Same if someone didn't do any sparring in training and then gets wrecked. No excuses when you get in the ring.

Joshua was always going to fight a different fight than the first time around. And it's not like Joshua was out classed in the first fight, dropped Ruiz first, just got concussed and couldn't recover and didn't really try to hold on when he was in trouble. HW's hit hard, all of them can stop each other under the right circumstances.

 

[borntoloseNOT]

I love current era. Lots of live bodies out there, lots of awesome fights we can see, HWT boxing is king and it's not like we have a bunch of out of shape sloths fighting, it's been a pretty solid era, these look like formidable hwts. Its more than just the big 3, we have gotten so many good fights with the 2nd and 3rd tier guys. Usyk for example, like damn people are ripping him apart, and while his chances with the top guys doesnt look great, it is still cool to see another face in the division.

 

[sweetviolenturg]

This is what I wanted to say lol! But I couldn’t have worded it better than this. 10/10 post! Thank you!

I’ve honestly been LOVING the HW division lately

Me too, bro. And thanks.

 

[revoltub]

Well, gentlemen, I worked with James on a couple of occasions as a second in his corner ( for his fights with Jose "Nino" Ribalta & Manoel de Almeida ) & I followed his entire career from his first pro fight vs James Broad on ESPN to his final pro fight vs Larry Holmes on PPV. So, I believe I have an accurate grasp of how good he was & I think the truth lies somewhere in between your two takes.

James was, of course, an excellent puncher with better boxing skills than he was given credit for. But he was also stubborn about using them because he was convinced that his power would always bail him out. So, he would often wait around waiting for the opportunity to score a KO & be outboxed/outfought in the process. Sometimes he'd be able to dig himself out of a big hole by scoring a KO late in the fight as he did against Bruno but all too often he'd lose decisions to fighters that he could have beat had he been a bit busier & fought a bit smarter.

If James were fighting today he'd have a legit puncher's chance against anyone in the division but he'd likely wind up making the same mistakes that he made back in his day & he'd wind up going about .500 against the heavyweights of today.

I just watched the ribalta fight. Pretty good scrap. The 80s guys were pretty mobile.

 

[sweetviolenturg]

I just watched the ribalta fight. Pretty good scrap. The 80s guys were pretty mobile.

Yeah, they were. James could box when he wanted to. He was no Ali & Holmes, of course, but he had more skills than people tend to recall. He was a decent amateur who won 35 of 39 fights. And five-time world champion ( who once worked my corner ) Emile Griffith brought the best out in him when he turned pro.

One of the best displays of his boxing skills was his 12 round decision over former champion Mike Weaver. He'd previously KO'd Weaver in the first round but in the rematch, he completely outboxed him over the distance.

 

[Naoya#1]

Ehh... I know HW boxing ranking is a bit weird and many of them would lose vs unofficial boxers but it's not that bad.

You have Fury, an athletic and skilled giant and he knows how to sell a fight (this combo is rare)

Wilder a killer at any weight. freak of nature, super explosive and a cardio machine.

Joshua reminds me a bit of GSP. Both guys are not natural born fighters, but they are freaky athletes + high IQ.

There are a lot more good fighters like Oritz and Usyk, good prospects etc. Efe Ajagba is pretty much the boxing version Nganou/Lewis and you can see how well some UFC HW KO artists would do.

I'm not saying it's the best era, but IF you LIKE HWs, then HW boxing right now has the best combo when it comes to athlecism/youth and skill (I'm ignoring ball sports, lol)

 

[aries]

Duran partied after his Leonard win and in the biggest and most lucrative fight of his career for the rematch got embarrassed. There was no way that someone did not point that out to Ruiz in the leadup to the Joshua rematch. If he didn't prepare for the fight, thats on him. Same if someone didn't do any sparring in training and then gets wrecked. No excuses when you get in the ring.

Joshua was always going to fight a different fight than the first time around. And it's not like Joshua was out classed in the first fight, dropped Ruiz first, just got concussed and couldn't recover and didn't really try to hold on when he was in trouble. HW's hit hard, all of them can stop each other under the right circumstances.

Exactly. Part of what makes a successful fighter is the ability to focus and stay disciplined. Ruiz had just won the biggest fight of his entire life. But next was the BIGGEST fight of his life and he couldn't stay in shape and focused. Boxing isn't just a physical game, the mental bit is equally important and Ruiz showed he was sadly lacking in that area. And there is no one to blame for this other than Ruiz. Not everyone has the Champion mentality.