AJ showed signs of age-related decline

Yes and Foreman was very relaxed in the ring, had much ring intelligence, and had a granite chin. Stark contrast to AJ.

 

Yeah that seems to be a ready excuse for him when he gets beaten up and stopped.

 

A few years ago his better reflexes would have evaded this punch:

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Exactly, I said the same and they scoffed saying Aj will still be one of the best at 38

Not so f....g cocky now in their assessment

 

I think Joshua from the first Ruiz fight would have taken this one most likely. His hands definitely were faster then.

Yes he would be vulnerable, but he was getting caught by shots he used to avoid. That's one of the first clear indicators of reflex slippage. I remember Roy Jones getting tagged by Clinton Woods a few times, about a year before Tarver, and thinking yep we are getting close to the end.

 

I think AJs corner were **** poor, i firmly believe they should have pulled him out at the end of the third round, he was gone and it was evident for all to see that the writing was on the wall, then pretty much more of the same in the fourth he should have definitely been pulled out then imo, even with Marcus McDonell trying to give him every advantage couldn't help him, and then came the inevitable.
Now i am not a fan of AJ but i am a fan of boxing, and it was quite sad to see him sparked out like that when it could have been avoided, these guys are ****ing huge and hit very very hard, so to be sent out in the fifth knowing he was getting battered from pillar to post, knowing he had still not recovered from the knock down in the first round was wreckless, thats how fighters get hurt.
I do however hope he packs it in now and he enjoys his life with all his faculties intact, and i wish him well in his future, if he takes the re-match it wont end well for him.

I picked Dubois to stop him prior to the fight, i wish i had put a liitle bet on now, however i did put a 2K wager on here in sports bet and won 7K!!

 

AJ is a Glass Jawed Fighter. It’s always been the case and he also seems to panic when he gets hit with a good shot.

 

Are his reflexes shot or are they just not honed? It goes both ways. Maybe he's getting too lazy in his training.

 

Looks like the same old AJ to me.

All that has happened here is that if you have the firepower and throw at the same time as him, you are going to come off best.

As Ruiz Jr proved in the first fight and Dubois here. They just exploited the vulnerabilities he has had his entire career.

Clearly though physically he will be slightly slower and less explosive now than he was when he was in his mid to late 20s. But its the same old AJ alright.

After that beatdown and the volume of punches he took off Usyk, there will be even more question marks about his chin. Now that really may show signs of decline in future fights like never seen before.

 

I agree fighters age differently though. For example Ortiz was a much much better 38 than Wilder was, yet he gets the age excuse and Wilder doesn't.

 

Not sure how much I buy into physical decline. Dubios had good spring to his feet. AJ's never been really light on his feet. Never had to deal with such an offensively capable fighter either.

 

He seemed more stiff and less sure of himself. Dubious gets some credit for that as well, he’s a big man with a big punch that was aggressive and it rattled AJ.

This was big loss for AJ for legacy.

 

"AGE RELATED" - yes, but more related to the age of his opponent. Dubois 27 years old, not 39 or 40. Joshua usually looked average or in trouble against good opponents who were not ancient. Otto Wallin 33 might be Joshua's only convincingly dominant trouble-free win against someone on the fringes of being good who wasn't outright "old". And the only reason Joshua could perform against Wallin is because Wallin has NO POWER.
Parker (26) and Franklin (29) took Joshua the distance. Ruiz (29/30) knocked him all over the place, then took him the distance.
Whyte (27) had him in trouble in a British title fight early on in their careers. .... And Dubois was in better form than all of those going in.
Wins over Wlad (41) and Povetkin (39) might be Joshua's best. The Pulev (39) KO was one of his better KOs. Some fans were also impressed by a KO2 against Ngannou (37).
Joshua has never wiped the floor with any hard-punching heavyweight contender who was youthful so it is incredible that so many people thought he would walk through or wipe the floor with Daniel Dubois.

yes, it IS age-related.

 

Not sure, he didn't see it come because he was stunned or blocked mentally by something. Here the problem is not a lack of reflex, it is a lack of focus and vision

 

Yes and we can agree it was a loss while he still was in his prime