Joshua and Wilder are no longer among the best heavyweights

Think the thread title should be, Joshua and Fury.

Fury was the champion of the WBC/PBC/American circuit. Usyk beat him.

Joshua was the champion on the WBA/IBF/WBO/Euro-Australiasia circuit. Usyk beat him.

There has been some cross over, but generally the euro-australiasia circuit fighters have come out on top

Wilder doesn't require inclusion

 

1. Usyk

2 and 3. Fury and Joshua, yet to be proved which is which.

Everyone else.

 

Joshua's still up there somewhere... He's not the clear #1 he was before Fury returned and Usyk came up from cruiser, but he's still up there somewhere.

Usyk is clearly #1.

Joshua is probably #2, but it could be Fury or even Parker - unless fights happen to prove it one way or another, it's something for debate.

There's a huge dropoff after that top 4.

As for Wilder being "no longer" among the top heavies... That's difficult when he was never among them in the first place - ducked Joshua, ducked Whyte, ducked Povetkin, had no interest in Parker - Wilder was always a cancrushing sideshow act, the casuals champion.

 

Why were Eddie and Joshua marinating the "fight of the century" with a "cancrushing sideshow act"?

Why was Wilder-Joshua considered a 50-50 fight all the way up until Wilder was UD'd by Parker?

Or are you saying these things because a fighter you don't like dominated him first?

Joshua isn't #2, it's:

Usyk
Fury
Parker
Joshua
Hrgovich

 

I have read people speculating 'what happens if Fury loses to Usyk again?'

Answer : Ask Joshua.

 

Extremely insightful.

I have no need to add anything.

 

Why would a promoter interested in maximum cash? Umm, what?

Because a lot of people DKSAB.
Because lots of people believed the Wilder hype even though it wasn't hard to see through.

Plenty of potential reasons.

Nothing to do with who I do or don't like - Wilder was always ridiculously overhyped considering how pathetic his resume was/is... Especially for a man with a belt who could get whatever fights he wanted - he didn't want smoke.

There are arguments for ordering the top 4 in different ways - the only really clear thing is that Usyk is #1.

And that #5 is anyone's guess right now - nobody has a particularly strong claim... Hrgovic has done **** all, but he's still one that might be around there - that shows how far the division drops off a cliff after the top 4.

 

Agreed. The top 4 of this era are pretty clear right now with Usyk above them all.

Wilder was always smoke and mirrors, with a tonne of hype built around a possible unification fight with Joshua that Wilder's team had no interest in ever taking. Ducked his mandatory in Povetkin with given the chance to, ducked Joshua in the most blatant duck since Lewis/Bowe and wouldn't even fight Whyte.

But Wilder did try to fight Parker when Parker had the IBF belt but the money didn't make sense, so the fight never happened. He also tried to unify with Martin prior to that as both were Haymon fighters but the IBF refused to sanction a unification fight. So Haymon instead knowing Martin was lucky to even be champion cashed Martin out against Joshua instead.

 

Parker ahead of Joshua even though Joshua beat him with ease? Parker is so overrated now, he could easily lose to anyone in the top 10.

 

If Wilder brutally KO's Zhang it's a different story as Wilder would be back.

AJ has at least fought decent opponents and stayed active.

 

He beat Zhang more comfortably than Hrgovic.

So by reasonable logic Parker is above Zhang and Hrgovic.

 

Usyk is rematch Fury
Joshua has crushed enough cans. Lets see him back against the top guys again

He's not short of options. Maybe the winner of zhang Wilder would be next?

 

I wouldn't say it shows he's back, just that he was never really gone and that the idea he was shot and unable to pull the trigger for the Parker fight was clearly false.

If he loses to Zhang then there's two possible ways to interpret that, either his actually shot or that he was never any good to begin with as every time he's stepped up he has lost. His fans will say the former his haters will say the latter and reality is there's no way to prove either as his resume was so thin prior to losing the Fury fights.

AJ's has been active and that does count for something, but his opposition has been pretty poor, but at least he's done what is expected when facing over matched opposition and looked dominant and he is supposed to fight Hrgovic once Hrgovic has taken care of Dubois, which would be a good fight.

 

Wilder can easily use ring rush as an excuse against Parker.

Wilder of 2018-2021 would have taken Parker's head off.