Anthony Joshua in the 50s. Does he dominate?

I think pushing for the Fury and Wilder fights between 2016 to 2020 when they mattered most is a pretty good start.

 

It's a great tragedy of the sport that those fights never took place.

 

It happens so often (Bowe - Lewis for example). Even though I think the Saudis are a despicable regime their vast amounts of money seems to have ended the petty bickering between rival promoters.

For now at least.

We have had some fantastic match-ups recently.

FWIW in my opinion prime for prime Fury runs rings around him by wide points or even late KO.

 

I suspect Eddie Hearn protected Joshua for as long as he could and looking back I can see why. The Andy Ruiz loss was a red flag

 

Fury wasn't active until 6 months before Wilder I before that people were sorta waiting until it was clear Fury wasn't coming back and it was okay to make AJ v Wilder for lineal. That 16-18 period was sorta spent waiting and I don't see how you avoid that given the whole Fury situation.

 

Not sure about Wilder but I don’t think he ever beats Fury.

 

Perhaps not. But there was more than ample time for those fights to be made and plenty of money to be gotten from them. Fury and wilder fought each other three times. Neither ever met Joshua. I think Eddie Hearn was protecting his prized horse

 

Even Patterson and Marciano?

 

In order for us to be talking about THEE Anthony Joshua that we know and launching his career in the 50’s, then we’re assuming that:

1. He’d have a superb amateur background
2. He’d have top flight management
3. He’d have a great training staff
4. He’d be a 6’6” 240 lb hulking giant
5. He’d have all the above despite coming from the euro circuit which if we’re honest wasn’t all that good in the 50’s. ( yes I know there were a few decent ones like Johannson. )

Frankly the idea that Joshua would have an exact duplicate background in 1950 that he had in the 21st century is next to impossible and without it then we wouldn’t even be talking about the same person

 

That's why we have to use our imagination. I mean, we could say the same about Marciano in the 90s. We can ask who wins between Lewis and Marciano and say that in the 90s, Marciano would be a 230 pound tank. So we could never do a hypothetical fight.

 

I do find it odd that everyone thinks Wilder was ducking anyone with a pulse yet he gave a non-obligated rematch to the guy who gave him the most trouble, and nearly beat him in Fury and after getting brutally knocked out, chased Fury again for a year and a half, going as far as taking him to court to settle the issue.

 

I really can’t think of anyone who Wilder ducked. Luis Ortiz was one of the most feared punchers in the division from 2015-2018 and wilder slugged it out with him at point blank. Povetkin was still respected in 2016 when wilder was at the airport ready to go to Russia and the fight was called off because Pov failed a drug test. As you say he Fought fury through three brutal fights. He called out Joshua numerous times but Eddie Hearn kept spinning it to look like wilder was the reluctant one. I don’t know if Deontay will be remembered as a “ great “ fighter but he’s undeniably a warrior in my eyes…. Great or not. And at the end of the day Joshua will retire as the 21st century equivalent of Frank Bruno

 

Nobody ever learns from their mistakes in boxing.

The same people that built Joshua and Fury up into head to head monsters, are equally quick to dismiss them, now that they have lost to a cruiserweight twice apiece.

The truth is that they were both magnificent fighters, at their respective glorious bests, but they were also both beatable.

Now if you put Joshua in the 50s, exactly the same thing would happen, that happened in his own era.

He would have been devastating while he was still mean an hungry, but after that things would have drifted south for him.

 

Who, besides Liston, would you say takes him?

 

Joshua would blow through a lot of the B-level fighters, but, I think Liston would pick him apart and stop Joshua. Not sure about Marciano. Joshua does have an enormous size advantage. But, he is mentally soft. Marciano wouldn't give up no matter how many times he got dropped. And if fat Andy Ruiz can stop AJ, Marciano stopping him is certainly not out of the question. In fact, I can't imagine how exhausted AJ would be in a 15 round fight against Marciano.