If Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko swapped eras, would AJ have done the same?

If he's at his absolute best for each fight? Sure. But if we're just dropping him in Wlad's career and letting him progress naturally, he doesn't have the consistency required. Would likely end up getting upset at some point.

 

No. He'd have to rebound from three early career losses to get past 22 consecutive opponents, 19 in title fights, including these 11:

Williamson
Peter 1
Brock
Ibragimov
Thompson 1
Chagaev
Chambers
Haye
Povetkin
Pulev
Jennings

Intuitively Andy Ruiz wouldn't be the greatest banana skin among these names and Wlad went on a 20 title fight run without being dropped.

This was from age 28-39 (2004-2015). Joshua last had wins at age 34, against Wallin and Ngannou, got steamrolled by Dubois at the same age and won't be back in the ring until he's 36+.

 

AJ doesn't have Wlad's ....

ATG jab
Ring IQ
Mental toughness
Ability to quickly move in and out of range
Ability to fight tall
Ability to clinch
Ability to perform at highest level consistency

And that's just for starters

So no he'd have no chance of dominating like Wlad.

 

Joshua fans are funny. Prime Povetkin would KO aj. Vitali would stop aj. Sanders blows him away inside 3 or 4 rounds & even a game Peter could beat down joshua like Ruiz. Joshua isn't good enough to nullify Haye the way Klitschko did, that's another L

You can't even be confident he beats Byrd and Ibragimov. Eddie Chambers would be a problem. Even McCline would be a problem just because he's a big puncher

 

To be honest this one is important. Very few boxers if any can clinch and use there physical stature like Wlad can.

Especially considering AJ doesn't have a iron chin IMO. Guys in the 00s to mid 10s are going to land big punches on AJ even if you believe the era was terrible there were still a lot of hard punchers.

 

I think Wlad had similar chin to AJ. But he had better ability to cover it up while with Steward.

 

I was saying neither had the greatest chin so Wlad's clinch came in handier so AJ may have to take more the same shots flush.

 

No. Wlad might be a bit robotic, he was not great at adapting, but his fundamentals were all solid. He had greater muscle memory to rely on. He learned to use the clinch when things were not going his way. AJ gets dumb and attempts bravado when things are not going his way.

Wlad also had really great sense of distance. He was able to control the fight and fight at the range he wanted very well, and of course when it wasn't at his range he clinched.

AJ vs Wlad's opponents racks up a few loses.
Wlad vs AJ's opponents loses to Usyk.

 

No ****ing way.

AJ at his best might be a match for most heavies in history.

But I think his chin is iffy and worse, his heart is even iffier.

In terms of physical dimensions he's not too far from Wlad. But Wlad was technically better, did not give up and came back from KDs to dominate fights. AJ is much more flakey. He would also never maintain a championship reign as long as Wlad.

Best for best, he might have a few fights streak of dominance over high level opponents.

But I think if we look at the Povetkin fight we can get an idea of where he was compared to prime Wlad. Wlad absolutely dominated a best version of Povetkin. AJ was wobbled and given a few rounds trouble against the mummified version of Sasha.

Levels.

 

These are great points. What allowed Wlad to stay at the top of the game for so long was his ability to consistently pause the action of a fight. AJ has similar physical tools and plenty of skill, but he doesn’t have the negative boxing you need to avoid punishment and keep your body intact for a reign so long. Watching Wlad is a chore, but it worked.

 

No. Enough said.

 

Wlad didn’t fight a roided out Povetkin tho. It wasn’t until after the Wlad fight Povetkin became a ko maxhine.

 

You think Povetkin the russian Olympic gold medalist wasn't already on the juice ? Always fanboys making stuff up to try and flatter joshuas resume

 

So I’m a Joshua fanboy now? Lmfao

 

Two of my favourite people, AJ and Wlad!

Firstly I think it's obvious Wlad was more 'talented' if you can use that term with boxing. They're are not the same class, no.
How do we know that? One way we know that is because Wlad had a much longer reign and was a force until he was 40, another is because at 40 he had a very close fight with AJ who was 12 years younger or whatever.
And then the glaring Ruiz TKO which would never happen in a million years with Wlad. He would have KO'd that sack of blubber with ease.
AJ is only 35 and he's looking for a way out, not because he's got something better to do, but because he was never as skilled and mentally tough as Wlad.

However, I think AJ would KO most of Wlad's opponents because he had similar massive size and power advantage.
The ones Wlad beat I think AJ would struggle with and possibly lose to would be:

Povetkin (even Wlad cheated to win that but could have anyway probably)
Chagaev, smaller than Povetkin but still dangerous and better than Ruiz
Sultan
Haye, though if he clips Haye first Haye is gone, that one isn't going the distance like Wlad-Haye
Peter maybe
Thompson, if Thompson takes his punch like he did with Price, AJ might get ground down.