Off Topic Boxing

I got the finish way wrong but still a very comprehensive victory for Joshua.

 

Dont get me started about Joshua.

 

I am actually very pleased Aj Won! Seems like a very decent bloke (Shame that’s associated with Eddie Hearn but hey no ones perfect ) surely now Wilder or fury will be next!

 

What more did you want from him apart from a knockout

 

I wanted to see a statement. I wanted to see a career defining victory. I wanted to see a fight. I wanted to see a guy come back from adversity to produce a performance of heart and desire.
I didn't want to see a guy jogging around the ring for 12 rounds and occasionally flicking out a jab.


Call me old fashioned but the great heavyweights of yesteryear all lost, but came back to produce performances that will be talked about for a millennium.

 

I'm not a massive Joshua fan but I think you're being a bit harsh on him. He came in with a disciplined and polished performance and nullified how his opponent fought. He won comfortably on points did what he needed to do and took back his titles.

It's also a bit unfair to compare him to past 'greats' as this bunch of heavyweights are piss poor in comparison and don't deserve to be anywhere near the conversation

 

I'm old fashioned mate. I also believe massive money boxing fights are as much about entertainment as they are about the boxing itself.
Its not about legacies anymore ,its all about the W's on the record and $.

 

I agree with what you're saying. It's been like that for a while now. Good quality fights with top quality opposition fighting each other are few and far between now. The sport isn't what it was. Like you said all about the money **** all to do with legacy. I don't see it changing anytime soon though unfortunately and we have to make do with what we have.

 

It's like Klitschko. How ironic that he will only ever be remembered for his Joshua loss ,where he was taken out on his shield, rather than his nondescript 10 year Tenure as champion.

Legacies are everything in my opinion.

 

Klitchkos were both ****. Vitali was marginally better of the two but during their reign all people moaned about was how poor the division was and how weak they were as champions. Bum after bum after bum. Its been so long since there's been an heavyweight who'd even make the conversation of being in the all time top 10

 

Yep, Lennox was the last one.

 

When he was around I loved him. Watched all his fights and thought he was great. Years later I think I probably did him an injustice in trying to water down what he achieved. If you go back to the early days of this thread there'll probably be posts of me trying to diminish what he did (Tyson and Holyfield past there best etc...). Its sometimes hard to appreciate an all time great whilst they're still active or recently retired (Messi and Ronaldo compared to Pele and Maradona for example). I think that's what I did with Lewis. He was great and he fought some good boxers, was around during a good time for the division and achieved a great deal.

 

While I applaud the effort of Joshua today, I don't think he belongs in the pantheon of great heavyweights. I wasn't the greatest fan of Lewis either, but I believe he'd have eaten both Joshua and Ruiz. The latter is limited in the extreme and I don't think the former has what t takes to keep a serious puncher off him. A fight with Wilder would be sensational. Joshua would have to be even better on his bike than he was today. He'd have a serious weight advantage, but Wilder has the reach that Ruiz lacked. As for punching power, Ruiz and Wilder are in a different league. And Fury? Well he's a clever bastard who could steal a fight against anyone today, but can he put Joshua away? Who knows?

Anyways, I agree with you guys when it comes to the class of the so called elite heavies of today, they lack the abilities of the greats of yesteryear.

I don't think Joshua will be fighting either Wilder or Fury anytime soon. Wilder is tied to Al Haymon's PBC and Fury to Bob Arum's Top Rank. And with Wilder and Fury making noises about a clash early next year, AJ has nowhere to go. He'll probably be spoon fed another Matchroom fighter or be forced into a mandatory defence by the IBF or the WBO.

 

The WBO have just ordered Anthony Joshua to defend his title against the No 1 ranked Oleksandr Usyk. The fight must take place within 180 days. If Joshua fails to do so, he will be forced to vacate the belt.

The WBO is the first cab off the rank. The IBF is next when it comes to the mandatory defences. The man in line there is Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev.

 

I love watching Emanuel Navarrete fight. He's the reigning WBO Super Bantamweight Champion. He loves the game. He won the title 12 months ago and yesterday made his 4th defence of that belt. That's 5 title fights in a year. There should be more fighters like him. He's wild and unpredictable, but 26 of his 30 wins have come by KO.

 

AJ deserves credit and respect for last night.

The same people who were doubting him pre-fight and talked about Ruiz being dangerous and AJ taking a shot, whether he can come through those demons, are now almost talking like out boxing Ruiz was easy.

Under that enormous pressure- the Matchroom big plans were on the line tonight (lose and the Wilder fight would never have happened as he’d have become undisputed in beating Ruiz and call the shots with all the belts)- Joshua boxed like Klitschko and Lewis did when they had to sometimes snuff out danger.

It reminded me a lot of Lewis v Holyfield 1- the bigger man with the read and jab just simply eliminated the danger in the other man. It was a really lovely boxing performance and a timely reminder of AJs Olympic pedigree.

He has had to show humility, strength, learn lessons and improve his skills in this last 6 months- he should be applauded.

Forget legacies and all those comparisons- that will come if and when he gets to square up with Fury, Wilder, Usyk etc etc.

Losing the ‘0’ might be the best thing to ever happen to him.

Looking forward to seeing a Fury fight in particular- as a pure boxing match that would be fascinating.

 

Joshua v Usyk is a nice fight. One for the purists rather than anyone expecting full on war.

 

Can't blame Joshua for getting on his bike. It was his only chance of winning. He nearly threw it away when he got angry in a later round but the corner sorted him out and he saw it through. Quite impressed by his fitness and movement actually. Still dancing around and frustrating his opponent in the12th round. I think he's been watching Ali

Ruiz was not the same fighter that Joshua met in the first fight though (a stone heavier - as if he wasn't carrying enough weight before) and a third fight would be interesting. Whether Joshua would want to risk that again - I don't know

 

Not sure anyone would want to go through watching that again.

 

I do think he deserves some credit for the way he adapted his style to suit Ruiz's style of fighting and was able to nullify him. Tyson Fury fights pretty much every fight like Joshua did last night, dances round and runs avoiding trouble and gets nothing but praise for his movement, despite him being a pretty **** boxer with no knockout power.