Losing to Usyk isn't a career ender by any stretch. He would need to beat another top contender or two to get back but the fact is he's a big draw at Heavy. I still favour Usyk in the rematch but I'm expecting fireworks one way or another so wouldn't be surprised if it goes the other way. I still think a robbery is possible if AJ is even marginally more competitive.
In my eyes he just needs to make it close, competitive, to keep his career and status healthy. And avoid being stopped, most of all. Usyk is top 5 in most P4P lists and top 10 in about every P4P ones. Wilder, Fury, Joyce matchups will still be big and atractive options, but Joshua can fight whoever he wants basically
It depends on how he loses. If it’s a one-sided brutal ass whipping where he ends up spitting out his mouthpiece and capitulating like he did against Ruiz then he’ll probably retire. If he loses a competitive decision without absorbing too much damage he might rationalize that this guy just has his number and he’ll come back.
100%! He drops down to the Dillian Whyte level instantly. That would be a realistic money making fight for him if he loses.
I think his career is already coming to an end win or lose. Good think about AJ though is I feel like he’d want to go out with a bang at the end of his career and pick a good opponent
Yet people still talk about Chisora as if he doesn't have 12 whole losses? AJ should be fine if he continues after a loss. Might make Fury decide he's not too dangerous to fight and we might get AJ Fury?
The career he was meant to have is pretty much over already. He can still have a good career but looking over his career....he was meant to beat them all. Klitchko was 42. Ruiz was grossly overweight. Usyk is a blown up cruiserweight. Top fighter usyk but bridging that gap between cruiser and heavy is a hard one to do. Usyk not as good a heavy as he was at cruiser and he had a few hardish nights at cruiser. Even if joshua wins....hes never going to be better than a good fighter. So many advantages over usyk. Chisora ended up putting up a better fight. He should be beating usyk at heavy. Taller. Longer reach. Heavier. More power. Usyk has to put unnatural weight on to try to match him. Its a lot of advantages to have and still get beat. I think the ruiz rematch was the night i realised he was never gonna be better than good. Anyone at heavy weight can have the kind of night joshua had the first time round with ruiz. Instead of redemption....he ran round the ring half the night throwing a few jabs now and then against a guy even more overweight than the first time. Silly stuff. Look at lennox against rahman as an example of getting redemption.
Usyk having his number isn't exactly the greatest ignominy that could befall him. He could be rebuilt to an extent. In that case, his name would still offer some tempered measure of worth to Fury's résumé after the world's heavyweight champeen creates the blueprint on our idiosyncratic friend from Ukraine, but not nearly as much, nor would the occasion of the bout hold nearly as much meaning, as if they'd met before Joshua's trajectory was unequivocally interrupted by successive defeats to the perceived interloper. The only way to restore that bout to its full lustre, or something thereabouts, is if he wins this rematch legitimately and emphatically.
I agree with a lot of that but I think comparisons with Lewis-Rahman are invalid because AJ was trying to avenge his first defeat against a tough but stubby, slow-footed pressure fighter in an immediate rematch for the titles. Lewis's first defeat was against McCall: he didn't jump straight back in with him as he had to change his style, gradually rebuild his confidence over years. AJ by contrast was thrown right back in at the deep end. Andy Ruiz is also in the mould of a Tua rather than a Rahman: say Lewis had got KO'd by Tua; the gameplan would have likely been to box more negatively in the rematch rather than less, take advantage of the length and footspeed gap, don't take silly risks that could end your career and focus on looking good next time.
Not to mention that McCall had a breakdown in the ring when they did rematch, an event whose causes had to be deeper than the immediate difficulties of dealing with an improved version of Lewis. McCall's emotional/mental state isn't Lewis' fault, nor should it deduct general credit from his having reversed the defeat, but it also shouldn't be treated as if Lewis emphatically blasted McCall out of there as he did Rahman Sr. You can't knock out everybody.
Fury, Usyk, and Wilder have all talked about retirement. Joshua will lose to Usyk and have a third act later.
