Anthony Joshua names the six fighters he wants to face before he retires

Nope, thanks anyway!

 

Absolute nonsense. He has all the relevant belts but 1, of course he's of tremendous interest to the division. He got crushed yeah but he came back in the rematch and took back his belts. To fight the same guy who destroyed you and broke your unbeaten record right after he did so? That's no joke and he deserves credit not only for that but for changing his style so much to dominate Ruiz. Few boxers could've achieved what he did.

At the end of the day his N1 priority was getting those belts back and his status as champion and he did just that regardless of what you and all the other "he was running" guys want to say. Also, that avatar pic of yours really helps with your impartiality in this topic.

 

Come on though, changing your style to hit and run against someone you picked to blow away in the first place is not a good sign. What will he do against Fury? He won't outbox him and I strongly doubt he will knock him out.

The interest in Joshua was as some sort of modern day Mike Tyson, reinventing himself to run from Ruiz is an achievement of sorts but let's be real, his stock has diminished massively.

 

We don't know what his strategy will be against Fury. Fury isn't invincible either, he has almost been knocked out a couple of times. I concede that Fury goes in that fight as the favorite but I'm willing to give AJ a fair chance to win as the underdog. This is boxing, anything can happen.

Also, I agree that his stock has diminished, no doubt, he's no longer undefeated after all. But even the best HW champions were defeated, Ali and Klitschko got crushed several times. That doesn't mean AJ is of "no interest" like you said though. He's still one of the only 2 current champs and a massive star in the division with tons of potential for the future.

 

He should focus on one at a time. He is a good fighter, but his first fight with Ruiz shows he should not talk too much about plans until he gets more experience.

 

I get what you mean but it just doesn't strike me as convincing with AJ. He sort of wriggled past an untrained Ruiz, I feel his confidence has gone. My point was that his whole USP was him coming in like a robot to destroy, quite how this new compromised version will fare at the very top level is anyone's guess but I reckon he's damaged goods. I see Fury clearly outboxing/stopping him and Wilder knocking him spark out. Joshua has no definitive style of his own, it's that X factor which is needed at the top level.

 

We'll see.

You are 100% correct that once bully type fighters get beat, they lose that aura of invincibility, and everyone goes in there to really fight them. I am not saying that you don't have a point.

Thing is, fighters can also grow from a loss. Joshua went a different way and tried being a boxer. Maybe it will do him good.

Fury is definitely the guy who has the public's imagination right now, and I too think he beats Joshua at this point. But Wilder? I think Joshua would take his new style and win every round against Deontay.

We'll see. To me, Joshua is #2 until proven otherwise.

 

I don't think Ruiz is better than McCall and Rahman. Both had wins over Holmes and Sanders respectably. The blob was still out of shape when he beat down that worthless bodybuilder, and gobbled up his undefeated legacy.

 

To me Joshua is a bit of a fraud

Paid paper champ Charles fartin £6 million for his belt

struggled with breazeale for 7 rounds when wilder knocked him out with 1 punch

Struggled with takam and got a dodgy ref stoppage

In house referee helped him against Parker

presented 40 year old povetkin as a
Genuine challenge

exposed against Ruiz in the USA when he wasn’t allowed his ped’s and only won the rematch with his jab and run antics

 

Joshua has approximately 6-7 years left prior to retirement. Assuming he continues to be competitive at the highest level that is. So he actually has around 12-14 fights left in him.

He is 23-1 now. I think he ends up at something like 33-4-1.

I think decent versions of Fury and Usyk beat him. Hrgovic looks like a monster to me and a future champion, who is at the right age to own the next era after Fury/Tyson Fury/AJ all get too old and retire.

 

Fury obviously, then Usyk. After that I'm not too fussed. A Wilder fight might be nice down the line, but I'm not too excited by that one since I believe it's a mismatch. Whyte rematch would be nice if Whyte can get back to form and then maybe the winner of Joyce vs Dubois or Hrgovic if he's managed to beat someone decent by then. I'd imagine the landscape would have changed by the time his fifth and sixth fights come around so whoever's highest rated and looks the most dangerous. Maybe the Russian Foreman guy with Tourettes, I keep forgetting his name.

 

The ultra lean Joshua at 240 was always his optimum fighting weight. He could still prove quite a challenge to Fury if he can keep his discipline in check.

 

That's exactly what Klitschko did though. Except instead of fighting off the backfoot he engaged clinches,

 

He didn't appear to be on tranquilizers during the presser before the fight: