I just watched Bob Sapp vs Mirko Cro-cop. The fight is almost identical to how the Ruiz-joshua fight played out (ie quitting early)
Bob Sapp was more like Miller, a huge tank that just won fights by overwhelming his opponents. Overeem is a better comparison to Joshua. Hari is Wilder.
Yeah and got away with a fair bit of cheating because the Japanese found him amusing. In a fair world he'd have been DQ'd in both Hoost fights. At his peak he was force though even if only due to sheer size and brute strength - had s bit of toughness too until he decided it would be better to throw fights against just about anyone as a mean of making a living. Overeem has some of the same flaws yeah. Stamina, chin and mental weakness all more profound than in AJ lol. Hari definitely went windmilling a lot and definitely packed a punch. Although he had some pretty tight combos when he stayed technical. Wonder how things would have panned out for him had he stayed training with Naseem Richardson and perused boxing? Haris a hard best to tame and inconsistent in the ring but if Richardson succeeded he very likely would have had a contender in Hari.
My problem with all this criticism of Anthony Joshua being a no skilled bum is where was all this talk a few months ago? In my opinion Joshua has already beaten better fighters than Ruiz, hes already shown a number of things he is decent at. One fight where he looks useless and its all about how he has always been useless. Hes a flawed fighter, there is no denying it, but a flawed fighter in a division full of flawed fighters. Just cuz Ruiz ****ed him up it dont mean everybody ****s him up or everybody would of already been doing that and he would never of even been a champion let alone a unified one.
Prime Sapp in kickboxing or MMA? Honestly maybe. Prime Sapp can probably KO almost anyone especially when the rules aren't properly enforced. I think he could KO Wilder as well. Shoves into corner, held there and rabbit punched into submission.
Yeah I think Cro Cop 'broke' Bob Sapp. I think that the sudden realisation that top fighters could not only hurt him but instantly break his bones and plunge him into agony brought realization to Sapp that he was vulnerable. Once that thought set in, he tried only half-heartedly at best to win. Against Hoost and Nogueira he just didnt give a ****, he thought he was a tank.
If it lands. Prime Sapp in Japan with rule bending has an excellent shot at beating Wilder. In a fair fight yeah he loses every time.