I'm starting to think Ajagba would upset Kabayel and Parker.

He might do a Joyce on Parker and keep Kabayel at range with frames, body jabs and uppercuts the same way he approached kossobutskiy

 

LOL. You think wrong.

Bakole sucks and always has. People got crazy over him because he beat Jared Anderson--who some of us told you from the start was a talentless hype job. At the end of the day, Bakole is still the same guy who lost to Mike Hunter. A very solid fringe contender type.

 

He couldn't even beat Sanchez

 

Dubois couldn't even beat Joyce. I'm not following who has the current momentum I'm looking at fighters rate of improvement. Ajagba has had by far the most improvement out of everyone in the top 15 since 2020.

When has he ever had a backfoot game ? He's unproven and slow so we'll see but he might be a dark horse, he has a huge reach and good workrate

 

Bakole would stop Abajaja but he came in poor form yet again.

 

I think you’re wrong here, it was a very slow pace so Ajagba’s work rate was nothing impressive, it actually looked like he got tired when he got himself stuck on the ropes a few times. I was impressed at first and thought he was going to stop Bakole but then he never did anything else then jabbing. I think Bakole’s poor shape made Ajagba look better he really is, still think he won though.

 

Dude, he was like 22-23 at the time.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if he did.

 

Ajagba has added more to his game since his first defeat than Dubois, he just hasn't had the top opponents to fully test. He beat Bakole 7 rounds to 3 in a fight where everyone thought Ajagba was tailor made. His skillset is underrated

Here's an unpopular opinion after what I just witnessed. Ajagba has more talent than Joyce. Better defense, better fundamentals, superior footwork, more punch variety, can switch stances, faster jab, longer reach, younger. Ajagba probably hits harder too. By physical attributes and skill all Joyce has over him is a chin and slightly higher workrate.

 

Ajagba has improved a lot over the years, far more than I ever expected. But I think he has about reached his ceiling.

If you mix all the good attributes from Bakole and Ajagba you got a World Champion.

 

Here's an unpopular opinion.

Maybe Frank Sanchez isn't as bad as people made him out to be?

Sanchez beat Ajagba handily. And Frank was injured against Kabayel, but he still didn't get steamrolled like Zhang and Mahkmudov did.

Frankly, they all have flaws and none of them are likely to beat everyone else. No one coming up stands above everyone else.

It's a crapshoot when they get in the ring together.

Once Usyk ages out, the belts will probably change hands every other fight. They remind me collectively of the 1980s heavyweights. They were the same types of guys. None (except Holmes and Tyson) were head and shoulders better than the others. Except these guys aren't passing belts back and forth.

 

And where is Joyce right now that it matters?

I am not saying Dubois has added as much as people are saying, but he's simply more physically mature and aggressive. A man of his size isn't even in his prime until he is 28. He has improving physical tools with a more aggressive attitude, now.

 

I'm not sure he'd beat Kabayel or Parker, but Ajagba would make for some interesting matchups with other top ten to fifteen heavyweights. He's been a bit underrated.

Hopefully we'll see him out again before too long.

 

I like Ajagba, and picked him over Bakole. The fight went mostly as I expected and I had him winning 7-3. Bakoles shape can only be an issue for so long - then it becomes a discipline and more fundamental issue.

Anyway, stylistically I think he could bother Kabayel and maybe upset him. But Parker I think would be much harder for him to overcome. This isn’t a Joyce scenario where one guy is a marauding machine - he’s a rangy boxer punched type, and has nothing like the activity or workrate to match him up against Parker in a Joyce scenario.

if he’s disciplined and boxes a good game he could stymie Kabayel - though I would still pick Kabayel.

 

Ajagba doesn't defend with his face, imo he's actually a better talent than Joyce and just needs the right fights. I could be wrong, but I think the discipline followed by his size and skill is a good combination