An unbiased look at AJ's top 10 opponents

I'm bending over backwards to be fair to AJ so I can't include the Covid affliction that Pulev may have been suffering from. Pulev is the type to make excuses and did so after the Wlad fight.

 

Wilder and Joyce haven't lost to worse than Andy Ruiz.

 

You can be critical of anyone's resume but my piece isn't a hitjob; it's a collection of stats and facts: home/away, A-side/B-side, age, activity, stances, heights, competitiveness of fights, rounds etc. I don't refer to AJ's opponents as "bums" or claim that his resume "sucks".

 

The same can be done to American heroes Ali and Joe Louis. It's futile to compare between eras though.

 

If you're not going to even try to be objective with your points then why should I bother arguing. My piece isn't a polemic.

 

Fury by any sensible metric and it's not close.

AJ has a better win than Wilder (41 year old 17 months inactive Wlad) but Wilder's wins over southpaw Ortiz would be 2 of AJ's best 4. And Wilder didn't lose to an Andy Ruiz, let alone is such a devastating and humiliating fashion (dropped 4 times and quit) so it's not clear cut between them.

 

Jennings would beat Ruiz on styles and 6'5 KO artist Dubois is a far more dangerous fighter, reflected in the respective odds.

Is late sub Ruiz better than champ Stiverne? The former beat AJ but maybe Ruiz isn't that good and AJ was exposed. Stiverne did better in the amateurs (beat Price and Helenius, didn't lose to Mike Wilson) has more height and reach, was in better shape and is a much bigger puncher. Compare Stiverne's performances against a prime/near-prime Arreola to Ruiz's against a 40 year old, coming off a loss, 18 months inactive version: Stiverne comfortably outboxed Arreola and then blasted him out in 6, Ruiz got dropped, almost dropped twice, hurt multiple times and couldn't even wobble him. Ruiz also couldn't wobble the ghost of Liakhovich who gave him a competitive fight and tends to go the distance with journeymen, even some chinny ones. It's far from conclusive that Ruiz is better than Stiverne and both are similar stylistically.

Wilder isn't typically an outboxer (though he won every virtually round against Stiverne 1, Duhaupas and Arreola) and isn't a boxer-puncher: he's a KO artist sniper who doesn't care how many rounds you win before he switches your lights off, taking you deep and allowing you to gain confidence was always part of the plan. You are making the same mistake that most boxing fans do when it comes to him because he's a specialist who can't be judged by those standards.

Ortiz was officially 39 and 40.5, Povetkin was 39, Wlad was 41 and inactive. These are the 4 best opponents on the combined records of Wilder and AJ. All were vastly experienced, all were highly skilled, all could punch (especially Wlad) and Ortiz is a southpaw. All dangerous men regardless of age.