just a little after his two defenses since defeating Wlad. Or is it a case of fighting good competition. I have to say after Wlad I thought he was the heir apparent as the next superstar of the sport. But both the Takam win and now the Parker win (Snoozer) has underwhelmed me. Parker had supposedly plateaued and was not given any shot by most experts to pull the upset and had he shown a little more aggression he may have. I think Joshua still has some questions now and his haters I think will be out in force after this performance.
He didn't look good at all. Very stiff, very robotic and just seemed off. He won, there's no doubt about it, but that was as much about Parker not being able to close the gap effectively as it was AJ keeping him at range.
Yes, for sure. He will start to lose the casual boxing/football fans who have been on cloud nine watching him blow away bums and going life and death with washed up Wlad.
Depends what you’re expecting I guess,AJ will never be a Lennox Lewis type boxer but in a real fight scenario like with Whyte,Wlad he looks good. Parker I think has shown to be the complete opposite and is just too careful. Tyson Furey if he can regain how he was should be the best imo?
For those thinking he would smash through everyone, yes, his stock will have dropped. I think he struggles to land clean on good, shorter fighters that are constantly on the back foot. Both Takam and Parker are talented, and both had a similar game plan. For long periods it felt like it went from hit and don’t get hit, to simply don’t get hit. Joshua fortunately or unfortunately, depending on which side of the fence you sit on, has the tools to just jab on the outside if that’s their approach, and pick up the rounds.
It looks like the bookies had AJ's odds against Wilder dip a tiny, tiny bit (that is, AJ becoming less of the favorite to win).
Joshua is not really much of a boxer. You put that fight on in New Zealand with a partisan Parker crowd and friendly judges and Joshua would lose. Lucky for him his ppv machine means he can keep banking the homers but the casuals won't like another snoozer like that, the card was also rubbish except Pov/Price.
I agree the fans of all sports are very reactionary and knee jerk opinion happens all the time. On the flip side he is in his Prime and both Takam and Parker are not viewed in the same league as Wilder, Fury and Povetkin. I think coming off the fight of the year against Wlad gave the division and the sport a boost. I have to say these last two fights have muted that momentum. Of course a crushing Ko of Wilder and both these bouts will be forgotten.
Was an Ordinary Fight and I was dissapointed by Joshua.....don't think he beats both Fury and Wilder on that effort...
This fight and the Takam fight showed that Joshua is still very green. Nobody can deny his talent and potential, but even Mike Tyson had 28 fights under his belt before he unified with Bonecrusher Smith and Lewis had 35 fights when he unified with Holyfield. No amount of talent can makeup for ring experience. Joshua in a way is similar to a young Foreman, who could destroy anyone dumb enough to stand in front of him in the middle of the ring, but struggled with guys that moved and countered a lot. Guys like Breazeale and Whyte are tailor made for him, since they have no mobility and are an easy target.
Yeah, if guys are going to trade with him, Joshua will lap that up. Is he really green though, based from the Takam and Parker fights? He comfortably won both. I get that we want him to obliterate his opponents, but is that just fans being naive? To me, being green was Eubank Jr when he fought Groves; he thought he was going to blow him away, and failed miserably.
AJ stock is doing just fine Maybe his next fight he sells 20k at O2 arena. For AJ stock to drop he would need to lose by KO
I don't know. What I can say is the American black boxing community is laughing at him and the Hispanos are confident Ortiz can get to him before Wilder to relieve him of his belts. Myself, I was already a Wilder fan and a Fury fan. Wilder brutalizes him and Fury humiliates him as far as i'm concerned. I'd probably favor Ortiz if he actually got that fight but I doubt AJ would risk his titles for a guy that dangerous that brings nothing unless Ortiz can force a mando and I doubt he can do that before Wilder or Fury get him. Either way AJ steps back or takes a loss.
I would say he's still very green, but as long as he improves on his weaknesses with each fight it's not an issue. He still hasn't mastered his jab and isn't he able to adjust his fight pace at will like an experienced fighter can. But, this was also the case with even Muhammad Ali, who was a far more developed fighter with 26 fights under his belt compared to 18 or 20. If Joshua can master his jab and learn to adjust his pace at will, and be less stiff he would be a hard man to beat. Takam was easily getting inside on Joshua and landing body shots way too frequently early in the fight. Little by little those body shots took a lot of steam out of Joshua. Takam only lasted as long as he did because he was exploiting a lot of Joshua's rookie mistakes, but Takam himself gassed out and got stopped late. Parker was struggling with Joshua's reach and jab in the first few rounds, but noticed Joshua always threw the same punches and always one at a time. Joshua's jab while powerful is also very stiff and predictable. Parker started to parry the jab almost at will and was easily countering Joshua's jab by punching over or under it. I would even say the Wlad fight showed his inexperience, since Wlad was attacking Joshua a lot more than Fury because Joshua has a bad habit of punching and waiting so he can admire his work. He did that one too many time and Wlad decked him with a right hand. Wlad was looking for openings and rookie mistakes for 12 straight rounds against fury, but they Wlad couldn't find them. Fury also kept Wlad completely honest with his jab.