It was Joshua's best performance. Certainly compared against the hype and fantasy of the great superstar super-fighter that AJ never was but SKY, Matchroom and the UK media have built his market around, his actual performance doesn't stack up. But for boxing fans who know the score, Joshua did well. Parker's the first top world level young opponent he's faced. I actually slightly favoured Parker to pull off a win but Joshua beat him quite well. As for being protected, yes, Joshua is. He's unlikely to lose a decision and referees may be inclined to favour him too. We all know that's true. I thought Joshua was quite clear winner on Saturday but Parker would probably need to have won every round to scrape a split decision anyway. We know that going in. Cash cow stars fighting in front of 80,000 home crowd will be favoured on the cards. The referee seemed to be on his own little planet and wasn't necessarily favouring Joshua deliberately but generally we would expect a referee to exercise bias favourably towards the home favourite, if anything. Realistically Joshua is a bit protected. Having faced Parker and an old but still dangerous Klitschko in his first 21 fights, it's hard to argue AJ has been steered clear of hard fights. Sure, at least 14 or 15 of his opponents were flat out bums and cans, but that's not unusual.
I wouldn't go along with AJ being protected, certainly not anymore. Parker was one of the best he could face and he did so. Klitschko was perfect timing but a gamble all the same. If 41 year-old Wlad got the win he was so close to getting, AJ's reputation would've been tarnished for the rest of his career. However, he's the most hyped fighter of all time. People bewildered because he didn't look that good v Takam or Parker, but I wasn't one bit surprised. His brute size and strength isn't enough to win anymore as he goes up the levels, so he's having to box, and we're seeing now that he hasn't got the boxing ability of the greats he's be compared to by Sky and other idiots. He's good enough to be top three in this era, behind Fury and possibly Wilder, we'll hopefully soon find out exactly where he's positioned in that top three. As of now it's speculation, he's a far inferior boxer than Fury, though more powerful. He's a better boxer than Wilder, but Wilder has much heavier hands. So it's a good mix. But the AJ future ATG hype has to end. It's cringey.
What you’re completely forgetting is that Parker lost the fight handily. AJ won the fight. Yet Parker’s performance was good and AJ’s poor.
For a guy of parkers size and short reach it was a good performance by him. For a guy of Joshua's size and reach it was a poor performance. Especially when you factor in the whole superstardom talk we,ve been hearing for a while now. Parkers struggled with Ruiz, fury and takam. Plodded on v cojana. Joshua's a superstar. And yet for six of them rounds they landed the same amount of punches. The other 3...Joshua landed about 3 punches more. Thats 9 rounds that theres very little between them going by the punch stats. I m not saying Joshua didn't win the fight. But come on you,ve got every single advantage possible going. And out of nine of them rounds against the good bit smaller man with a seven inch reach disadvantage...you,ve only conclusively outpunched him in 3 rounds of a twelve round fight. Most of them jabs. Its not exactly vintage stuff. Although Joshua took the front foot. He was every bit as negative as klitchko used to be. Opponent goes forward...he goes backwards. Going forward to edge up to take advantage of his massive reach advantage. Its not good boxing...its just spoiling using your size advantage. We,ve been led to believe joshua was the answer to the dull klitchko era that we all hated for years. Saturday looked to me suspiciously like more of the same. Parkers a decent fighter tbf. And it was a good win. But if you need to have/use your reach advantage that much...your not the big superstar everyones claiming. That was,nt great boxing from Joshua....not sure why he,s been credited with a good performance. You can coach a kid with a much bigger reach/height advantage to back off everytime the other boy starts to come forward etc. And use your reach to win the jab off.
24 Even if you look at it that way. It still doesnt point to Joshua being protected when taking that fight with only 15 fights You make it sound like Martin was on the verge of being stopped. It ended in the 3rd round and didnt really prove anything and was even on the cards He couldnt have fought for them as twice Fury and Klitschko were due to have a return that didnt happen and I believe Fury vacated, but once again this is only your opinion and far from proven as, as soon as Wladimir could fight and wasnt in arrangements to fight Fury he fought Joshua which was only a couple of fights later for Joshua and only a year after winning the title, so you are casting your opinion but facts show a different story. Once again, I am on the fence but like to look at facts Yet Joshua had had nearly 40% less fights than Martin. So lets look at who was holding a title and available IBF - held by Martin WBA - Vacant WBC - held by Wilder WBO - Vacant Now Fury wasnt active and the next top HW was Wladimir and Joshua fought Wladimir for the WBA. Parker wins the vacant WBO and Joshua has now fought Parker for that title also these are the facts. Fury and Wlad werent available for Joshua to challenge and as soon as Wlad was, Joshua fought and defended against him Nothing there points to being protected Tell me where what I wrote is incorrect Of course the Whyte fight was built up due to an amateur fight??? Why wouldnt they use a story to build a fight. This is you looking for another angle, but once again you focus on how few fights Whyte had had and forget Joshua had had less fights. Also many fights happen for the British and Commonwealth titles Nothing there points to being protected Tell me where what I wrote is incorrect Joshua cant help the age of his top opponents or that T Fury has not been active as I think Fury/Joshua would happen if T Fury were around. Martin was a young world champ, Parker was a young world champ, Breazeale was a young world rated puncher, Whyte was a young world rated boxer. 3 of which are in the current top 10 Joshua is a big money fighter so has been able to get big fights, like his first world title fight in the UK but In answer to your question. No I dont think Joshua has been protected. Besides Wilder, who would you like to see Joshua against and state why you think they are better than the top 10 rated opponents he has beaten so far
You have your opinion on that I have mine Martin was one of the poorest champions ever, and my previous posts still stand imo, we are going round and round I think, unforgivens post has put it better than I have, if he’s not protected which I still think it’s possible he’s certainly hyped the other part of the thread,but it’s getting boring now let’s see how these wilder negotiations go. Joshua is making loads of money if he wants the whole legacy thing make it happen loose a bit for this fight make it up in the next don’t know how many big money fights to come, he’s in charge isn’t he, only josh can make this happen now not wilder.
So you have tried to change your angle again. That still doesnt mean protected. Look again at who was around So lets look at who was holding a title and available IBF - held by Martin WBA - Vacant WBC - held by Wilder WBO - Vacant Now Fury wasnt active and the next top HW was Wladimir and Joshua fought Wladimir for the WBA. Parker wins the vacant WBO and Joshua has now fought Parker for that title also these are the facts. Fury and Wlad werent available for Joshua to challenge and as soon as Wlad was, Joshua fought and defended against him , What parts specifically as you have changed your approach some what. Do you still think protected? I will try and have a read at some point Of course he is hyped. He has an Olympic gold medal (I didnt think he won the final at the time but would have to watch again), trailed through his early opposition and scored quick KOs, won a world title in his 16th fight, beaten a HW legend, had 2 unifications and has won back all of the titles that Fury vacated after winning from Klitschko . He is the champ and doesnt have to lose a bit I think Wilder can also help make the fights happen. I think it may have been closer if after Joshuas win over Wladimir or if Wilder and Parker had of fought. Or if Wilder had of fought Wladimir. Just my opinion and not worth anything. Unfortunately the Povetkin fight didnt happen. Do you think the champ who has put in the ground work, should have to lose money for an opponent who wants to get a title shot? Really? And why do you think he should have to concede?
21 fights with four belts... And you think he's being protected? Lol No matter what you think of Joshua, yeh ok, he isn't a natural in the ring like others before him, and he has some pretty basic flaws in his game but he deserves a lot of credit for what he has done in ten years of boxing am/pro... Some 40 fight fighters should take a leaf from his book, I'll say no names... Lol Get behind him and enjoy it for what it is, he's pretty Much single handledly put boxing in the mouths and minds of many ppl like it hasn't been for many years...
Lol these haters are so confusing!! They love to hate on Joshua. Bunch of miserable sods always trying to find fault. Congratulating Parker saying he put on a great performance but Joshuas was poor lol.....right.
Like I said we go round and round a 41 year old legend coming off a loss they probably thought that going to be an easier fight to take at that time with better name than an Ortiz or Parker at that stage, I don’t blame him for taking Martin he was a good percentage fight for josh to get the belt because he’s poor, anybody would gamble on that but now he’s got the belt it’s all on his terms refs, crowd, who he wants to fight, where etc it’s all been posted earlier, I know he’s creating the money here but if he wants the whole package make the wilder fight now and yes give a little to get wilder to fight he’s in a priveleged position to have it over here all the advantages said earlier and yes wilder has a padded record but he was champ before josh, he’s 40.and 0 and he has wbc that’s worth plenty, like I said before make the fight only he can. So if it don’t happen history will say josh didn’t want it and we don’t want that do we because he’s in charge really.
You are right in that we are going in circles. regardless of Wlads age, it was a big step up for an 18 fight novice who hadnt been many rounds So Joshua has fought for and won the IBF title, unified to get the WBA title, put those on the line to unify to get the WBO title and taken far bigger risks and fights but do you think if Wilder were to say 50/50 or 60/40 to him (Wilder), that Joshua should take it?
Im not denying anything you are saying there, only that Martin took the big money fight with josh because he generated big money to fight what Martin thought was a novice, or he took the money because he knew he wouldn’t be champ long which gave josh an opportunity to get a belt early without fighting a massive step up that’s fine, but that then gave josh this media hype to generate more for his fights than normal at such an early part of a career which in turn gives more power to demand more advantages. ie home fights crowd advantage pick non English speaking refs etc all icing on cake and then all he did then was pick the fighters he should fight at that point in his career under 20 fight fighters which normally would have been eliminators your brazeele s, Whyte, aged champions etc but with the advantages of picking which one at any given time in there careers and eg fighting Klitschko over here where by if he could have before which he wouldn’t because he wasnt ready ,but it would have Been on Klitschko soil, which I didn’t like neither, We eventually get Parker and didn’t like ref they picked one bit. That said Parker didn’t do enough, now he has the power to get wilder of which I think josh should win by the way because wilder is a windmilling octopus but has power, he should offer 40% but go to 50% if he has too if he wants to clean out the division with no question marks, with all the money he is making and is going to make, to loose 10-15% on one fight to cement your legacy is small price I think
Lol fair play to this john roberts geezer he aint giving up lol. In all seriousness i dont understand the hate you have for Joshua. You are entitled to your opinion and respect to you for sticking to your guns but you do seem like a miserable git lol. Lighten up a little and enjoy watching Joshuas Career. He isnt being protected. One day he will loose. Even Joshua knows this..just try to enjoy the ride.
I know he will lose one day but some of what I am saying is right, I may just take your advice this is exhausting lol