To reach ATG status it's not enough to be as good as an ATG. You need oponents good enough to prove it. A chavez, needs a camacho. A srr, needs a basilio or a lamotta. A louis needs a schmeling. Ali, a smokin' joe. A leonard needs a halger. A durán needs a Leonard. Even a floyd needs a pacman. And a pacman needs a márquez. In this list all of them are ATG, at least to me, no matter if they won or lost. Is the clash (or clashes) what creates an ATG, and usually it does not create one ATG only, but several of them. So it does not matter what aj does. He wont be atg, never. Same problem for crawford btw, it does no matter what he does or will do, he simply never will. Same for fury, btw. The division is just too poor right now to bring a new ATG to this world.
Quitting against Ruiz Jr. gives him a nearly impossible mountain to climb. He needs to absolutely demolish Fury, pick the scraps of Wilder, reign for at least 2-3 years in dominant fashion, and take out some up and comers.
I consider Vitali and Wlad ATG's and who did they beat? If you cant have big opponents you need longetivity and look like a quality fighter. Crawfor beats bums but he looks like a great fighter for example. AJ needs to beat Usyk, Fury and preferably Wilder as well, be the man for a few more yeara and then he has done enough to be considered atg.
I dont consider vitali an atg. I consider wlad, after 11 years of ruling the division. Ok, you are right, I'll give you that. If you are able to rule the division(s) you fight in for 11 years in a row, then you can be considered an ATG too. So the only thing that AJ has to do is to win all fights up to 2032 fighting twice a year. As I said, he will never be an ATG, NEVER.
First and GOAT, no doubt at all, Joe Louis. As much as I dislike him, probably Ali is the second one. The third one can be argued as well as the 4rth 5th..... I dont care, you can pick whoever you like the most. My favorite HWs ever? first joe louis, imho the best right hand that the world has ever seen at HW. And the second one smokin' joe. Sheer will, with the balls the size of Oregon.
He’d have to pull a Klitschko and dominate the division for many years. The stigma of the Ruiz loss will remain with him for a very long time.
Yeah, he does needs this. When Patterson had lost 1 fight vs Johanson via stoppage, he had 2 fights vs him after this and had won both of them. You never will be able to cover 1 defeat vs underdog via stoppage with 1 win on cards in rematch. It never will happen for serious fans. Never. He should have 3 rd fight vs Ruiz Jr. 41 y.o beltless Wlad, congratulations again with geriatric resume. There Fury looks better than A.J and levels above: 39 y.o is not 41 y.o and Wlad then had bunch with belts. This one fight in Germany is better than all A.J pro resume together. Fury de facto dethroned Wlad, while he did not had spanked him. Wlad just did almost nothing and was too boring even for germans and judges in Germany.
He needs to beat Usyk fury and Wilder decisively and for me personally he needs to beat 2 of the 3 multiple times to even earn the right to be in the discussion
If he beats Usyk and Fury next up, he will be trending toward it with a handful more victories over top 10 opponents. (Assuming ATG here means top 20-ish HW as opposed to top 5).
People consider Mike Tyson and ATG along with Wladimir Klitschko even though Joshua isn't far behind them resume wise even now. If he were to beat Fury and dominate until he retires I'd say he'd be an ATG. Obviously bot a top 10 ATG though because the division isn't all that. And that Ruiz loss will stick with him forever. Getting beat up by a obese journeyman level fighter who got dropped by a shot Arreola after the Joshua fights. Guys who caused upsets like Buster Douglas, Rahman, Jimmy Young and Mccall didn't suck that bad. Absolutely embarrassing