Is AJ Closer To Lennox Or Frank Bruno?

Bruno did pretty well against Lewis when he fought him, would be interesting to know how AJ would have fared. I’m not convinced he would have done as well as Frank personally.

 

This, I was about to ask why AJ’s always compared to these two instead of Bowe

 

if he beats Usyk in the rematch, then I'd have to lean towards Lewis, as he also came back to beat the only two men to get the win over him.

AJ would also need to finish his career on top in order to really justify the comparison.

I just can't see AJ being able to meet either of these prerequisites though. He's simply not on Lennox's level.

 

How the hell does Bruno have better stamina than AJ?

 

Closer to Bruno

 

Lewis was pretty bad when he fought Bruno, loads of sloppy right hands, Steward fixed Lewis`s fundamental flaws, AJ would have beaten Lewis in 93 the same way McCall beat him in 94.

 

Bruno, Lewis and AJ fought or fight with careful styles, Bowe was reckless, Bruno fougt like Bowe v Witherspoon without the hand speed, AJ has Bowe`s hand speed but not his style.

 

Bump: I thought I would bump this because it's a good question and all of the responses were entered before the Joshua-Usyk rematch. Anyone have a different opinion now? I'm going with my Bruno as my answer.

 

Frank Bruno. Lennox beat the best fighters of his era, Joshua lost twice to Usyk. That tells you everything you need to know about who hes closer in comparison to.

 

Lewis and Bruno were never 24-3. Audley Harrison was 24-4, though. (Joshua could be that after his next fight).

Audley also won an Olympic Super Heavyweight Gold medal, like Joshua.

They also both knocked out Michael Sprott. (Joshua shares no common opponents with Lewis or Bruno.)

They were also both defeated in heavyweight title fights by former unified cruiserweight champions.

So, probably closer to Harrison.

 

I have to say Lewis. From the Martin fight through to the Ruiz fight, Joshua was seen as the best HW in the world.

Now that seems like a long time ago, and since then AJ has lost 3 times, but he did spend that time atop the division.

Had Wilder accepted the offer AJ would have held every single belt, as it is Wilder wanted 50/50 and saw Fury as a stepping stone to getting that leverage, the rest is history.

 

Bruno wouldn`t have had Usyk in trouble in rd 9 the way AJ did.

 

The rest is he wa beaten by Usyk so who cares if he beat Wilder boxing was dire 5-10 years ago, the heavyweight division improved and caught up with AJ and Wilder, still two dangerous fighters though, I actually feel AJ`s performance on Saturday was his best, it was a good fight but Usyk is amazing.

 

Bruno, Lewis and AJ would have destroyed Audley.

 

Lewis is arguably one of the three best heavyweights who ever lived. Joshua isn't close to that.

So is Joshua closer to Frank or Audley?

Well, Frank won nearly twice as many fights. Frank never spit out his mouthpiece and quit against some late sub slob like Andy Ruiz. And I'm sure Frank would've preferred to fight Charles Martin and Joseph Parker and "Fat" Andy for their belts rather than Mike Tyson twice and Lennox Lewis for theirs.

On the other hand, Joshua and Audley have a lot of similarities, from Olympic Super Heavyweight Gold medals, to both having stopped a common opponent (Sprott), to both losing a heavyweight title fight to former Cruiserweight champs, to both having nearly identical win-loss records after 27 or 28 fights.

Joshua is closer to Audley. Hell, Audley may end up finishing with a better win-loss record than Joshua.

Can you picture Joshua going, say, 7-3 or 7-4 in his next 10 or 11 fights? Does he even fight 11 more times?

Then he and Audley finish with basically the same win-loss record.

Bruno finished with a 40-5 record. I don't see Joshua going 40-5. He's currently 24-3. Do you see a 16-win run coming from Anthony?

He's closer to Audley than Frank.