If Joshua destroyed Wilder in 2018, would he receive more credit than Fury did?

I think Fury gotten more credit for beating Wilder than Joshua would have, cause he did it after almost 3 year lay off and being on the brink of suicide. Also, nobody expected Fury to do this to Wilder the way he did. If AJ knocked Wilder out it would probably have been his biggest win, but that was always a likely outcome.

 

In different ways yes, AJ would have been the undisputed champion.

 

He still wouldn't be truly undisputed until beating Fury, who still held the claim to the lineal championship.

 

Thats not a requirement if someone holds all the belts at once

 

Good point yeah.

I can't believe that fight hasn't happened yet and we're basically in 2026.

 

Absolutely.

Had he beaten Wilder before Fury did, he'd have been lauded as the next Lewis.

 

Yeah, that's why AJ KOing Wilder was a likely outcome. Just like the other way around. Few people expected Fury to knock Wilder out.

 

Lol, what?

 

Yes, it's exactly the same dynamic as their shared opponent Wlad.
Fury was given a little clap and AJ was the next phenom.
It's also good to point out that Hearn and most people thought Fury was getting KO'd and also in the rematch. The narrative nobody thought Wilder was good back then is a rewrite of history. Everyone thought he wasn't the greatest boxer but very dangerous.
If AJ had beaten him it would have been an incredible feat to beat the man who had KO'd everyone he'd ever faced etc.

Of course the reason Fury did fight Wilder is because AJ wouldn't. The talks between AJ and WIlder fell apart and Fury stepped in. The narrative always was that Wilder ducked but now we see how much AJ has avoided Wilder's callouts for years and that Wilder has actually taken riskier fights (non title) since Fury, it seems unlikely AJ didn't duck.

I think a fearless AJ from the pre-Wlad times would have had a decent chance of winning against Wilder, but after he became cautious Wilder would probably have bombed him out even though it was always one of those fights where either could get the KO. And that's precisely why it didn't happen. Too risky for the cash cow.

Boxing ability is overrated. Look at Browne versus Chagaev. Chagaev was a gold medallist, way better trained boxer than latecomer Browne, was winning the fight, had a KD, then one counter RH and the fight was done. That's what Hearn was terrified of.

 

Wilder is on record declining many offers to fight AJ and he confirmed himself he chose to fight Fury even tho AJ's team offered him more money, lol.

 

This part is a bit off. The Joshua Wilder talks at the time did not fall apart, for then Fury to enter in. Wilder later admitted that he chose Fury over Joshua, even tho it was for less money.

Also, they entered negotiations several times, so its kinda silly to call either man a duck. However, there was a moment when Wilder´s side offered Joshua a huge payday, but the catch was that they had to agree to it before seeing the paperwork or the details. It was the weirdest thing ever.
And of course then there was the DAZN offer to Wilder, which was turned down.

 

I don’t give Fury much credit, yes he moves well for a heavyweight and such a big man but he’s a myth created largely by his own bragging and self proclamations! His actual record is unarguably awful, he has no names on it that stand up to proper scrutiny.
He beat a disinterested, bored and stale W Klitschko who was at the very end of his career and the absolute worst version of himself. Even with that it was an awful performance from Fury in perhaps the singularly worst Heavyweight Title fight in the sport’s history, neither of them deserved to take a belt home or be declared World Champion.
He then went on his 3 year binge, beat no one on his return then got cherry picked by the only fighter on the planet who was a bigger fraud than himself.

In all of that what justification is there for him to be in the conversation with the likes of Ali, Louis, Lewis, Marciano & Co?
Fury is a floppy wristed, flim flam man that belongs in P T Barnums Circus of Human Menageries
Not for me!

 

AJ and Wilders management ducked each other and the fighters were scared of each other also.