Anthony Joshua vs Rid**** Bowe

So far so good, I absolutely agree.

We still need to see him tested against better opposition, before we can start picking him over fighters like Wills and Bowe however.

 

Mark Wills???

 

Absolutely Goo. He could light up the division a lot better than it has been for many years.

 

Agreed. If we're talking about the current 17 fight version of Joshua vs the Bowe who beat Holyfield, then its absolutely too early. But looking at both of them at the 17 fight stage, Joshua is making Bowe look pedestrian. People have mightily Criticized Anthony for his opposition, but compare his opponents to those who Bowe was facing at around 17 bouts.. Hell Joshua debuted against an 8-0 prospect.. Bowe fought a guy who was 0-1. In his 14th pro bout Joshua fought a man who was 21-0.. Bowe at the same point fought a dude who was 4-5-1.. And some say Charles Martin was a bum.. Was he really worse than the 25-12-1 Eddie Gonzalez whom Bowe fought in HIS 16th pro bout? And Joshua isn't just beating these guys either.. He's taking unbeaten prime prospects and dissecting them with sharp and well polished fundamentals. Bowe was using his physicality to bully tomato cans and not always looking so great in doing it.

 

Current version of AJ does not beat best Bowe, at least he has not shown me anything to suggest he would.
Bowe was not really hard to hit, but AJ may actually be one of the few who telegraphs his punches enough that Bowe could avoid them....
This could change, not able to assess AJ until he fights someone who fights back and has to go through some adversity. He is nowhere near his prime yet, in my opinion at least.
Present version, I think gets really roughed up, and beaten like a drum by the Bowe who took the title from Holyfield. Give him a few years, might be a whole new ball game.

 

Yep I've also been watching early footage of Lennox Lewis and tbh he doesn't look as skilled or as powerful as Joshua at a similar stage of their careers.

 

the dudes selling point is his body and, to a lesser extent, the medal they gave him.

so far i think he has good speed and he keeps his power beyond the early rounds, but otherwise just a bodybuilder beating up heavy bags. whyte was injured and is pretty ****, brezeale was amazingly slow and everyone else came to lose.

like boxingfanmike says, wait a few years before any suggesting of these matchups.

 

I am with you on this.

I didn’t think that he looked very impressive in the Olympics, but when he turned professional, I was saying wow!

I had never seen a big man with this sort of accuracy and fluidity. His power is obviously exceptional, even by the standards of the division.

Two questions remain:

1. Can he take a punch?
2. Can he carry his power into the later rounds?

I am 80% sold!

 

Joshua beat no mark Emanuele Leo in his debut.

Bowe beat Lionel Butler in his.

Nobody ever heard of Leo and nobody will ever hear of him again.

Butler went on to be a ranked contender in arguably the strongest HW era known to man. He knocked out Tony Tubbs ..He fought MaCall to a split decision loss and gave Lewis problems.
In 2009 he beat Fred Kassi who later got robbed against Aaroela and Mansour.

Old man Mansour was giving Dominic Breazeale an absolute hiding before a freak accident forced him to retire on his stool.
Joshua then fights Breazeale.

The journeymen of the 90's would be top rankers today. There is no comparison between this era and the 90's era.
Bowe's opposition coming up was ten level's above Joshua's.

 

We still have to wait for AJ prime years in boxing. Now it's too early to judge.

Now for everyone who says AJ has flaws - yes that's true. But young Bowe and Lewis had too. In fact, AJ looks less hittable than both were early in their careers.

 

well this is early to call for AJ, however, I will pick AJ anyways.

Bowe could give him some trouble no doubt.

 

Lionel Butler was absolutely nobody when Bowe fought him.. It's not like Rock Newman had a crystal ball and foresaw his becoming a fringe contender years later.. He was an 0-1 obscurity and he was selected for that very reason. Placing a debuting fighter in the ring with an 8-0 professional was a far greater risk regardless of what that man became in hindsight and Joshua handled that test well... As for your comment about 90's journeyman ruling the scene today, well that's a broad based statement and one that isn't backed by much of anything. But since you're a guy who would likely pick Bobby Crabtree to take lineage today I can understand the perspective.. Trying to keep things balanced I can see "some"of those guys having a "bit"of success post 2000.. but this probably wouldn't hold true for most of the garbage that Bowe faced in his first 17 pro fights.

 

Agreed.. His chin has yet to taste the power of a povetkin, wilder or Ortiz. If he can take a good shot from one of those guys and shake it off then he's ready for the championship scene.. Time will tell..

 

That's an irrelevant point. Butler was a greater debut for Bowe for what he went on to achieve and its not even debatable.

Leo had 8 fights in rural Italy against plankton. One of them had a record of 7-74-4 .
Nobody was impressed that AJ was fighting some no mark with 8 useless wins on his record. He was plucked out of deeper obscurity than Butler was.
Butler's only loss was to Phil Jackson.

No it wasn't. Leo was selected because he was absolutely useless and he proved that by being stopped in the first round .

There wasn't a soul who thought that was a risky fight for Joshua.

As I said , Leo was never heard of and will never be seen again. He hasn't even fought since.
In fact , many of the bums AJ fought have since retired. He didn't even beat journeymen in their prime.

Journeymen of Bowe's time were far tougher , hungrier and just better fighters overall.

 

this, bowe KO and he would make it look easy ala the gonzales fight and i doubt joshua could last as long