1. Winless since December 2020 2. Now 33, made an absurd amount of money and had two title reigns over almost 5 years 3. Said he was “coming towards the end of my career” in January 2021, before his losses to Usyk 4. 3 defeats (2 by upset) in his last 5, NOMAS7 in his first (and thus far only) fight on away soil to B-side, 6’, 270 lbs obese non-puncher Ruiz (the most humiliating defeat in combat sports history) 5. Back to back points defeats to B-side, 6’3, 220 lbs, ex-cruiser non-puncher Usyk 6. By the same racial logic that Joshua applied to Eddie Chambers in 2017, Joshua has long been a “bum” and a “disgrace” 7. 1 KO win in his last 5 fights and 4.5 years, against 39 year old inactive non-puncher Pulev late 8. Uncertainty with and lack of confidence from his team 9. Continues to see his résumé age horribly 10. Gone from hero to zero, lost a huge amount of support (much of it to sneering antagonist Fury) and respect 11. Fears that another defeat could end his career 12. Several of the top guys he hasn’t fought (undefeated Fury, Wilder, undefeated Joyce) are also favoured to beat him, most likely by KO
He's been promoted very well by Eddie Hearn and will still draw a crowd and attention. Many casuals wont really be too bothered by his resume aging poorly if we are honest and a lot of his more unsavoury incidents haven't really stuck to him. Now that he has lost a few he may be more attractive for voluntaries considering he is a name and beatable but the question is has the businessman taken over inside of him? Will he accept less of a % for a chance to reach the top again? Does he want that or does he want to fight lower ranked fighters for big paydays and just try his luck and wait for a sanctioning body to give him mandatory position? Whatever he chooses him and Hearn had a complete masterstroke and great luck leading up to his title run and whether you like them or don't you can't help but admire what they were able to achieve and it's going to be interesting to see where things go from here.
His record aging poorly isn't about the casuals so much as his own self-belief. If guys who he struggled with or lost to are getting trashed regularly, that can't be good for him mentally. "has the businessman taken over inside of him?" He did say to those Oxford kids that what defines him in life right now is "the money", so it seems this is the case.
Yeah probably. Many, many worse fighters than him have held straps. And he's got a lot of whack. If a weirdly weak champion emerges I expect Joshua to swat him.
Yeah, he will - after Fury and Usyk retire. And very possible to be waiting for Wilder to do so as well.
He's slightly younger than Fury and Usyk, and both of those guys seem intent on retiring in the near future. Since there's not too many other big names in the division at the moment (other than wilder and joe joyce who are both closer to retirement age than Fury and Usyk), all AJ really has to do is play the waiting game, and he can regain at least a portion of the belts eventually.
Fair points but Joshua can take solace in that he was beaten by a generational talent in Usyk who was just too quick, smart and athletic for him and Andy Ruiz Jr who has some of the fastest hands at heavyweight and was able to beat Joshua in his preferred mid range. Either way his next fight should be one he looks to exorcise some demons and maybe try to take the 12 against a durable and respectable but very beatable opponent in my opinion. Bakole/Zhang/Kabayel/Demirezen would be perfectly respectable enough to rebuild his legitimacy and all 4 are very durable ranked boxers who do have a chance in the fight despite Joshua being the favourite.
This is what's wrong with boxing dudes can't even lose fights without people hammering them no wonder fighters try to keep their 0s he's fought the best competition around apart from fury and wilder which is obviously them two ducking him, if you believe otherwise your dumb at, he could of easily ducked usyk but decided to fight him give the guy some respect
If Usyk beats Fury and Ruiz beats Wilder, Joshua would be better able to get over those losses. If Usyk and Ruiz get dominated on the other hand, it's going to be a lot harder. Hearn seems intent on making a Joshua-Whyte rematch provided Whyte gets past Jermaine Franklin. Joshua-Whyte 2 is a big money fight, Whyte is still highly ranked (though he may not be if Hearn delays and someone else KO's him) and it should result in a confidence-boosting KO for Joshua, though if Whyte beats Joshua then it surely has to be curtains. The problem with Joshua-Whyte as I see it is that Joshua won't have a decent period to rebuild if he beats Whyte, immediately there will be talk of a mega fight against Wilder. Maybe that's the route Hearn wants to go down; maximise revenue against big names rather than get upset by a no-name.
Ah, right, it's always the good that duck Joshua... There's some anti-Joshua conspiracy, yeah... He didn't have the choice escaping Usyk because his fights with Wilder and Fury failed and he can't skip another top fighter blaming him again. Adding the fact he shat his pants against Ruiz once. But I don't mind being dumb by your criteria if the same one makes you smart, but I doubt you get what I mean. He also paid a lot of respect after his second Usyk loss, yeah - great dignity, great respect to the belts as well. Yes, we "hammer" the golden balloons once they pop and prove they're not as great as they pretend. Just as we decide who's really great and who isn't.
Losses have consequences whether we like it or not, that's just the world we live in. Boxers seek to knock their opponents senseless because they don't want to lose, because they fear the negative consequences of defeat. Fury and Wilder have shown much more heart in the ring than Joshua, hence the Matchroom PR team narrative that everyone is ducking Joshua is played out. In fact, Hearn admitted recently that it was Joshua's side that didn't want the fight. Joshua can't stop losing, hence the Fury and Wilder fights were never made. And no, he doesn't get much credit for trying to sneak controversial points wins over the much smaller, less powerful Usyk with A-side advantage on his side.
We need a word for these kind of threads. Where the subject is like an innocuous question but then the body of the post is just a bunch of hate against a fighter the poster clearly has some vendetta against.
It depends I think on his approach and the team he selects. He needs someone like Teddy Atlas who is going to take charge, abuse him if he doesn't listen, and fire him up on the night. If AJ continues to surround himself with people who tell him what he wants to hear he'd be lucky to pick up another belt. I hope he does, he's been brilliant (to quote Rob McCracken) for the sport at least around London. He can come back from this low point and get back on form, but if I were sitting on his net worth I might not be that motivated so don't really blame him either way.
