How do you see AJ doing in lennox s career? He's proven to a degree he can rise from a kd and come back late in a fight, so how does that translate to Lewis s opponents. Different style to Lewis, does this go in his favour against mason, ruddock, tucker, mccall, holyfield etc.? I realise it's early days for aj and he has still some to prove over time, but be interesting to see what other s think of what his chance s are against LL s opponents.
The opponents Lewis had fought for the first 19 bouts i could see Joshua doing a number on, Gary Mason could possibly survive the bout but I don't think he'd pose much of a threat for Joshua.
I think he showed on Saturday he definitely is which is a very scary thought indeed to say he's a relative novice.
As far as now, AJ is better than pre-Steward LL. Also he has a better chin, I doubt McCall hits as hard as Klitschko. AJ took a few flush shots from Klitschko and was still standing, he got knocked down once but most fighters bar a few Iron chinned ones would have been knocked out. I'm not saying AJ is Iron chinned nor am I saying he's glass chinned. He is somewhere inbetween, people need to remember there's isn't only two types of chins. There are inbetweens. LL doesn't have a glass jaw either but AJ has a better one so far that I've seen. His chin doesn't compare against e.g. Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Ali, Foreman etc but he certainly doesn't have a glass jaw.
He showed a heck of a lot against klitschko, a experienced ATG. He was down, wobbled and came back to score a great ko. In some ways a lot more than lennox showed at that stage of his career.
you are overstating your case with regard to Wlad who is ranked No 15th by the Ring magazine. Joshua is unexperienced and still makes mistakes. he will improve and it is a bit unfair to match him at this stage with the Holyfield, Tucker, Briggs etc Lewis fought.
Off the top of my head, I would think that Holyfield, Mercer, Tucker, Vitali Klitschko beat him without question
I won't attempt an analysis on how Joshua would do against EVERY single one of the Lewis's opponents. But as a general overview I think he does fairly well against most of that crowd. A 2003 Vitali Klitschko makes me skeptical however.
AJ is on a very steep learning curve. As much as I was very pleased to see him overcome a mid-rounds-crisis on Saturday, it was a crisis, nonetheless. I think that any good, young, tough and hungry fighter or, even a wiley old journeyman - who could survive an early onslaught, would fancy their chances, after seeing their opponent gassed to a virtual 'punch-still'.
Point taken regarding the matching of Joshua against Lewis opponents, i actually think he does well against a lot of those Lewis met..Would love to see AJ against ruddock, Bruno, mercer and golata.
He will have learnt from that however and caught a great second wind that allowed him to knock Klit out late. He got a bit overexcited at having Wlad in trouble and overextended against a vastly more experienced opponent. On a side note it's insane how much speculation this fight has drummed up in here. Some have him readily beating Ali LOL. Joshua is extremely promising and an exciting talent but there's a bit to do yet. The flipside is it's great to see Heavyweight boxing exciting everyone again and garnering great interest. Hopefully the dreary old era's are gone.
Couldn't agree more. It's the first time, in what seems like an age, that I have been on the edge of my seat for a Heavyweight title fight. Despite my pre-fight belief that Wlad would win, watching the AJ recovery was a relief. I do hope it was just a case of youthful exuberance and mis-marshalling of his energies. I tend to think it was and can be fixed along with the rest of his development. His challenge now, is to continuing learning on the job, whilst fighting at the highest level. That alone brings a certain intrigue. This fight has definitely brought back some genuine interest in the division. And, yes, the 'How would AJ do against Lewis, Holy, Bowe, Foreman, Frazier, Ali, Holmes, Dempsey, Louis on the same night?' threads, will hopefully normalise - by later this year.