At 135lbs, Loma-Garcia would have been one hell of a fight. Down at 130lbs, Loma was too fast, too fleet of foot, and just too dynamic all around.
You saw a guy follow a superior boxer around, not apply effective pressure, not box with him, not punch with him, and lose 10-2 or 9-3. You saw that and thought "this guy who lost would beat anyone and is a h2h monster". What? He got whooped and was too scared to go for it because he knew he'd get TKO'd if he gambled what was required to win. Insane revisionism from a Joshua fanboy.
I can't be too hard on him as a lot of fighters come with hype these days, and fail to live up to it. I'm old enough now where I have seen the script before, many times. Fans, understandably, like to believe we are watching something historically significant in our own era. But, really, most boxers don't live up to the hype (usually created by promoters and a hard-core fanbase) or stumble along the way. That's normal. We can't call be Ali or SRR. No, AJ wasn't the next Lennox Lewis. But he's still had a pretty damn good career. Just not an ATG one.
I just checked out what highlights are available of the second fight. There's a 17 min highlight (by DAZN...LOL) that is blatantly biased toward Joshua. They cut most of the left hands Usyk detonated on Joshua and have payroll commentators rambling on. This is the most viewed video of this fight and explains the notion of Joshua fans (I assume they only watch highlights) that he did very well in this fight. Fury did far better. Hell, CHISORA did better. They're clinging to this moral victory as there hasn't been a victory of substance since 39 year old Povetkin in 2018 (I don't count obese Andy).
Bag AJ all you want, go look at Fury's resume and come back and you'll realize AJ has the best resume of his era.
He beat Wlad in a boring shocking display, dodged the rematch and beat Wilder 3x of who I believe all the elite heavyweights would have beat, it was just who got him first.... thats Furys resume... Chisora and Whyte next best wins LMAO.
Nah, @Barrf is right as it was an amazing performance from Joshua. By all metrics it was a far better showing from Joshua than in the first fight, and while he still clearly lost to Usyk I will maintain that it was the best performance of Joshua in his entire career. He didn´t "follow" Usyk, he actually applied pressure while working his jab and he used body shots to cut of Usyk´s footwork. Joshua got Usyk on the ropes a lot that night. And Joshua also showed a lot of good headmovement that night, something he is not really known for. He was constantly moving his head, pre-emptively slipping and sliding. The problem is that Usyk is simply the better boxer in several departments, and once again he also showed to have the superior gas tank, even tho Joshua did fight with that in mind. And you are basically making the argument that Joshua should have fought the rematch the same as he did the first fight, which is dumb.
You know you're a fanboy when your favorite fighter loses 10-2 or 9-3, doesn't sell out to win when it's the only option, and you call it an AMAZING performance. You've gotta step back and reassess your levels of fandom at that point. Joshua DID fight essentially the same fight in the middle of the ring. He can't box with Usyk, and what did he try to do? How many times did Usyk's back touch the ropes in either fight? To me, an AMAZING performance loss would consist of a few things: A fight that's actually close A fight that shows you've implemented your game plan for multiple rounds in a row A fight that shows you've made major strategical changes, implemented them, and still come up short None of that happened. Usyk dictated the fight. Joshua can't win a boxing contest, but tried to do so. He HAD to go all in with pressure and risk getting himself stopped (see Usyk-Dubois II) in order to have a chance, but wasn't willing to do so. Feel free to post your scorecard.
This is exactly how the fight played out, only instead of being close on the cards it was competitive throughout. I had it 8-4 Usyk, can see it wider for Usyk but not any closer than 8-4. Feel free to go through the RBR, a lot of people were praising Joshua´s improvements and gameplan that night. Also, you keep yapping about how everyone with a different opinion must be a Joshua fanboy, when ironically you seem more of a hater yourself. I like Joshua, yes, but have often rooted against him and picked against him. He was a good heavyweight during his peak, in his era, and he boxed an excellent fight in the Usyk rematch - from a tactical perspective.
A fight being competitive isn't the same as a fight being close. Neither Usyk-Joshua fight was ever close. Joshua landing the odd jab or half power right hand means nothing if he's not implementing a game plan or doing anything to deter Usyk. The commentary and crowd celebrated every punch Usyk blocked or narrowly slipped. There are many gears Usyk didn't have to show because he was comfortably outboxing Joshua and Joshua wasn't willing to risk, or didn't know how to risk what was necessary to cut off the ring and make it more competitive. Either way, I'm not impressed. I certainly don't think it's fair to say that a fighter who lost (in your generous estimation, 8-4), would have beaten anyone else that night...especially fighters who did much better against Usyk.
Literally what I wrote: I disagree with everything you wrote here. You are wrong on every account, its amazing.