what does that do to his legacy? Will Joshua instantly be labeled as too green or overrated? Will Wlad be credited as derailing the heir apparent? I don't see Wlad winning as I think he has been finished for a while. However, if he does destroy Joshua I doubt he gets any credit for it.
how do they differentiate from people who credit them with what they are (paper title winner and weakest long term h2h titlist in history) before the fight.
A Wlad win would bad for HW boxing. It would throw a spanner in the works of HW boxing and set its progression back by four or five years. The HW landscape is evolving nicely with a logical sequence of foreseeable solid bouts that would sort out the situation between Joshua, Wilder, Parker, the Furys and a host of good prospects coming up. That would disrupted and replaced by a situation in which we be waiting at least 12 months between Wlad fights and, when those fights do occur, watching 12 rounds of jab-and-grab in each one until he gets beat. I have a great deal of respect for Wlad's body of work and overall accomplishments, but a win here would not be good. That said, I expect Joshua to beat him.
I expect Joshua to win early however he is green if vlad takes it late could be interesting.if vlad wins Joshua will be labeled a flash in the pan.
I'd say he's already ahead of Tyson and Holyfield, arguably Frazier but not Lewis. If he beats AJ and Joshua goes on to dominate HW, it would do wonders for his resume imho.
On boxerc he's only behind Holyfield from that foursome. Wlad is not a shot fighter from what I've seen of the camp. He's just a better boxer than Joshua, period. Okay, he was tentative against Fury and couldn't put away Jennings, but motivation was no doubt a major issue given his personal issues. The lay off will have done him good. The pressure is all on Joshua. Wlad is an old man like Louis vs Marciano or Holmes vs Tyson. He should not win. Joshua has to perform and show he is the man.
I simply do not get how Holyfield gets rated that high. He's got losses up the wazoo. That said, if they take "excitement" into account when rating, then he deserves his spot.
Fury is always funny, dammit. "I bet he's got a big C**k too ... I bet I wish I had it" I would hate to have to trashtalk this guy, he has no shame or limits.