For someone rated so low, Joshua sure has done well for himself. What does that say about the rest of the contenders then?
Did AJ deserve his gold medal? Nope. He didn't even deserve to make the podium at those games. Was Wlad 41, hadn't fought in 18 months, and well past his best? Was Povetkin 39 y/o and was well past his best? Was Pulev 39 y/o and well past his best? Yes to all three Does AJ enjoy the privilege of fighting on a deck which is heavily stacked in his favour the vast majority of the time? Is that a big advantage? Yes and yes. However, he is a very good fighter He has achieved a lot He does have the best resume in terms of depth in the division Wlad, Povetkin, and Pulev were still good fighters at that point and worthy of their lofty rankings And Whyte, Parker, Fat Andy and Takam are good wins too Even his wins over much lower level guys Breazeale, Martin and Molina would be/are considered top wins for bum dosser In 26 fights AJ has fought Usyk Wlad Povetkin Whyte Parker Fat Andy Pulev Takam Martin Breazeale Molina Beaten five world champions He has also fought a lot of big punchers amateur and pro In 44 fights Bum dosser has beaten Ortiz Stiverne Breazeale Duhaupas Szpilka Scott Arreola Washington He's beaten two world champions in 44 fights and one of them was a shot beyond belief Liakhovich who was 2-3 in his last 5 fights all losses via KO or stoppage, the two wins over tomato cans That is absolutely shameful If he manages to beat Fury tonight he will have beaten 3 world champions in 45 fights and the only reason he's getting his third crack at doing so in his own backyard again when the series should be all over with Fury 2-0 up is because of corruption rearing its ugly head again. You give any KO artist three cracks against someone and odds are they're bound to get lucky at least once, especially if they're a one punch specialist. People criticize AJ for fighting old men but even bum dosser's best win who FTR has never beaten anyone of any real note and has only fought one puncher his entire career was two weeks shy of his 39th birthday in the first fight. Ortiz's best win is Bryant Jennings for goodness sake and his second best is a 45 y/o Tony Thompson Stiverne's best win is Arreola, his second a way past it 40 y/o Ray Austin who was whooping his ass all night prior to his old man gas tank running dry and getting clipped
Daniel Dubois is said to have dropped Joshua heavily in sparring causing the sparring to be cancelled for the day. Can he do in a real bout?
Bodybuilder got knocked out cold by David Price and got knocked down by Daniel Dubois. But he beat my man Fury too. His sparrings are f*ckin weird.
That’s why Chisora has never been mentioned as an opponent for Joshua. Chisora is all wrong for Joshua and may well break Joshua’s heart and get the win .
As far as official rankings? Easiest answer would be some up-and-comer talent that hasn't fought enough at a high level yet to achieve a good ranking. Olympians serve the premise. Hrgović is ranked 27 on BoxRec, might have a good chance. Dychko has fought nobody and is ranked 100th but would probably have a similar chance. Hard to say though, you're either ranked low because you're sh*t or because you haven't proved otherwise, so it's only guesswork. Ask me now and I'd favour Joshua to beat anyone outside the top 4.
