Joshua should of been better than he was..

He was a boxer - puncher, with all the required physical tools for greatness. His ring smarts, maturity, and emotions did not keep up with the rest of him.

 

Mother Nature rarely gives it all to one man. Just how it goes. A man with it all 100% physically is very unlikely to get 100% of the intangibles. It wouldn’t be fair. Imagine Wlad with his brother’s chin and heart? Imagine Usyk with Wilder’s power? Imagine Tyson with Holyfield’s discipline (that’s a wild thought; might have been the GOAT)?

 

The Ruiz fight changed the trajectory. But Uysk completely derailed him. Had there never been an Oleksandr Usyk, he would have rebounded and fulfilled his potential.

 

The main thing I have noticed about AJ is that he usually gets his clock cleaned when he gets reckless.
The first time he was stunned as a pro was against Whyte when he was easily beating the crap out of him. He got badly rocked and almost stopped by Wlad after having him down. He was actually giving Ruiz a hiding before Ruiz caught him with that left hook on the temple. Dubois hurt him early but he only got finished off once he had hurt Dubois and went for the kill. Usyk was just all around too good for him no shame in that. He stayed calm against Povetkin despite getting caught a few times also stayed calm against Ngannou and those were two of his best performances.

 

I don't agree he did very well he won 9 world title fights which is more than the likes of Marciano, Foreman.

The Ruiz loss was a shocker but atleast he revenged it.

He was never going to beat Usyk who is simply on another level.

It's a shame he never got the big fights vs Fury, Wilder, but all in all I think he got the most of his career 9 world title wins is very good.

 

Couldn't have done much better to be honest. He could've beaten Ruiz the first time but that's about it. Might've beaten Dubois had he fought smart. Would've always fought Usyk and lost. Isn't really his fault that the big legacy defining fights against Fury and Wilder didn't happen either.

 

Many fighters are never the same after their first loss and Joshua is a prime example.

At 22-0 and matched against someone chosen to help showcase him to the potentially huge US market, Joshua got complacent.

Ruiz, way better than Hearn and Joshua gave him credit for - that's why he was chosen - was good enough to capitalize and the US dream and Joshua's self confidence were crushed on the same night.

Yes, Joshua won by running like a rabbit against the overweight and unmotivated Ruiz in the rematch but the damage was done. He was never the same and no amount of trainer swapping was able to repair the damaged goods.

 

He overachieved if you look at him objectively.

Gifted gold, massive promotion behind him in the pros. Never had the skill, heart or chin to be a long term top 5 guy. Did extremely well considering how limited he is, to be fair.

 

I don't think anyone can question his genetics, amazing genetics. Eddie Chambers wasn't a believer but got told about dem genes yo.
Somehow an obese midget HW beat him up though, which was a shocking curiosity of the world.
I guess there's a psychological component to all this fighting stuff.

 

I agree.
AJ promised a lot after defeating Parker and knocking out Wlad and Povetkin, but the underestimation of Andy Ruiz changed him forever; irreversible.

 

that was sort of my appeal to him. you saw him learning and growing on the job. learning how to hook, learning how to box, counter every fight you saw him get better and better.
it's why i think he has more of a frank bruno appeal than lennox lewis as he was promoted as. you felt like he would say to him self "come on you can do this"

the 2nd loss to usyk derailed him but derailed the whole division. nobody could get back a title. so it's turned the 'grand tournament' in to a conveyor belt. not what the heavy weight division was for close to 25 years.

 

Wlad had plenty of heart tho. Chin, not so much.

 

One of the worst champions in heavyweight history

 

He had his limitations he never could overcome. Strived to be great, but wasn't good enough. Nothing wrong with that. His body of work is actually pretty good. He has a Top 3 resume of this era, won 9 title fights, was a unified title holder, best heavyweight in the world for 2 years, historic fight with Klitschko, olympic gold medalist, earned dozens of millions. That's a very good career overall.