Anthony Joshua or Frank Bruno

Would he beat a fully nourished Oliver Twist?

 

Wlad wouldnt have got that far v Bruno, if Bruno had him hurt like AJ in R5 from memory, Wlad aint seeing round 6

 

Heard people say this in much stronger terms before the Usyk fight and look how he was schooled twice.

Anytime people have doubts as to how limited Joshua was, just check out round 2 when he fought English Area Level fighter at the time Dillian Whyte, how an old man at 41 years of age had him wobbling at Wembley, how he was taken apart by Andy Ruiz on 5 day's notice and how Dubois absolutely destroyed him.

Bruno would do him serious damage.

 

No chance, Twists hand speed and footwork would have meant he pick pocketed his way to a win.

"Stay Bumble"

 

Joshua isn't physically stronger than Bruno was.

 

Agree with the Klitschko summary, for the Parker one i do think he deserves some credit.

The "hardcores" on twitter had parker as a shoo-on to knock him out, I also thought whilst not the most exciting in terms of sticking to a game plan and executing it that was probably AJs best boxing performance where he utilised what he was actually good at as he clearly had parker worried about catching the 1-2 which i what AJ is actually good at. Also the win has aged like a fine wine with some of the recent Parker perfromances.

I think there is some bias in terms of assessing AJs talent at his prime, the truth is he was very gifted in some areas, straight punches and power whilst equally very flawed in others, his defence and chin for example.

Also putely based on their personalities i cant see how AJ would win over a bigger portion of the public support over Bruno.

 

AJ was a better fighter and would have beaten Bruno.

AJ achieved far more than Bruno. Bruno only won his title off of a drug addled Oliver McCall and lost it the very next fight. AJ held multiple belts and defended them many times.

AJ did manage to come through being hurt to win a fight against an elite opponent. Bruno never recovered when hurt in a fight.

 

Parker has lost and been knocked down or out to Whyte and Joyce. In fact, Joyce absolutely destroyed him, and that was a Parker who threw more punches than just about any time in his career. Seldom have I seen a man beaten so badly. In my opinion, Parker was very lucky to get the decision over Chisora in their first fight, and that was an old Chisora who had lost numerous times. Parker's wins against a shot and gun shy, old Wilder, and a zombified old Zhang, have left him as one of the most overrated boxers in the sport. People say Joshua is shot. I disagree, I think he's never been anywhere near as good as what he's cracked up to be, and I think he would have knocked Wilder and Zhang out. Parker couldn't even put them down! If Joshua had been put in against good opposition he'd have more good wins and more losses, also. I do agree with most of what you are saying. I don't think his record speaks much to his ability when you look at the context of the wins. Fury another with a shallow record, but at least he won his world titles in a proper way unlike Joshua.

 

To be fair to Bruno, Joshua also would've lost it had he been up against Mike Tyson the following fight.

 

Yes, both the versions of Mike Tyson that beat Bruno would have beaten AJ. But legacy comes into play and AJ has the better legacy thanks to the number of title defences he has.

 

AJ would have to fight cautiously, try and keep Bruno at the end of his jab and look for the straight right when the opportunity presents itself.

The problem for AJ is that Bruno had a good jab himself. He was able to out jab Lewis early doors.

A prime Bruno did have some athleticism. He came across as a big stiff lug back in the day as he was one of the bigger and bulkiest HW's, but looking back on his fights recently, Bruno actually had some decent hand speed and wasn't as flat footed as I remember. He also employed some head movement. He'd never be confused for Ali, but he was not as stiff and lumbering as I remember. Compared to some modern day Super HWs, Bruno was quite agile. The problem for Bruno in this mythical fight, though, is that AJ is quite agile and athletic for his size, which is obviously bigger than Bruno.

I'd probably cautiously favour AJ in a one off fight, but as others have said, if it was a series of fights, both would find ways to win. Ultimately, whoever lands first wins.

 

It would be interesting to see how Bruno would've done against those opponents. I think he'd probably. have beaten all of them, perhaps bar Klitschko, but he was at the end and Bruno had power. Klitschko was always very vulnerable when hit.

 

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Better legacy with 7 defences against Breazeale, Molina, OAP Wladimir Klitschko, Takam, Parker, Povetkin and Pulev?

All small and/or old men so that bar is set on the floor.

Katie Taylor leaves him for dust with 16 defences if that is all that matters for legacy.

Bruno fought in a much harder heavyweight era and I have no doubt that only Usyk in this era could live with that generation of heavyweight boxers.

 

People forget how good Frank Bruno actually was. In ’84 he fought Bonecrusher Smith in a WBA eliminator, won every minute until the 10th when he was caught — and Smith went straight on to fight Holmes for the title. By then Bruno was already world level, and his last fight in ’96 was defending the WBC belt against Tyson.

Joshua’s had more title fights, but that doesn’t automatically make him better. Bruno likely beats Ruiz and Dubois too, and the men who beat Bruno — Tyson, Lewis, Witherspoon — are the same kind of names who would trouble AJ. If Joshua clipped Bruno like he did Dubois just before getting stopped himself, he might have folded him, since Bruno only really learned to hold during the McCall fight. But it works both ways — Bruno had the power, discipline, and jab to end Joshua at any moment.

It’s also worth remembering the era: Don King’s stranglehold on the belts, then Tyson in his prime, plus Lewis, Bowe, and Holyfield all coming through meant chances at titles were few and far between unless you went the WBO route. Bruno was a cash cow for Duff and Lawless at his peak, and Warren only booked the McCall fight on the condition that the first defense would be against Tyson.

Bottom line: Bruno was at least AJ’s equal. In a head-to-head I’d call it 60/40 Bruno