How about props to AJ...

Nothing. He was gun-shy and not really a boxer. Sounded pathetic post-fight.

He was somewhat gracious in getting his backside handed to him. That's as good as it gets.

It'll go down as a historically horrendous performance

 

He did well to win the 2 rounds he (may have) won.

Credit to the lampost. He, at least, didn't get knocked out like he did against the legend that is Rice Pudding Jr, although he did have some luck as it was right at the end of the bout and another type of "luck" with the early bell in the 12th.

 

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It looked like a quality boxer vs manufactured fighter.
Aj looks the part, acts the part and has great hype and marketing begind him even after the Ruiz loss but he isnt on Usyks level unfortunately for him.
He did well in the middle rounds at a point where I thought he would change course but Usyk upped gears and he got schooled.

He looked gunshy and unable to figure Usyk out.
He needs to take way more risks with his strengths (size and power) to be able to beat Usyk in the renatch.

 

I personally was impressed by his performance. He was clearly outclassed early, fell for Usyk's lead hand feints in the early rounds but he made adjustments throughout to make the fight competitive such has no longer parrying with his jab, taking power off his shots to just land the scoring shots, the uppercuts to the body a tactic Lopez used vs Loma. He also dug deep in the last round where he quite honestly looked ready to go.

Yes he lost but he didn't panic or seem lost and just try the same thing over and over again. He to me showed real ability to adjust mid fight and showed mental fortitude when things got tough. But he was simply in the ring with someone really special.

There's no shame to losing to someone as good as Usyk. This is nothing like the Ruiz loss which was utterly embarrassing, this time he was in the ring with a great.

 

That was a horrible performance by AJ. I don’t know what he was thinking by not throwing a single combination. Instead of following up with his power shots he kept letting Usyk off the hook because he was terrified of getting countered. Respect to him for taking a fight with such a stylistic challenge though

 

How about , he's a bum? An over paid hype job whose time has run out.............nothing more, nothing less

 

Props AJ.

But I didn't like that He left 65k people without even saying thank you.

 

Given I've never been overly impressed with Joshua, I actually came away from the fight MORE IMPRESSED with him - he went up in my estimations believe it or not.

Joshua has always been "Frank Bruno 2.0" to me, but a Super Heavy version, with more power.

I've always thought that AJ was fairly limited in:-

• Stamina / cardio
• Boxing IQ
• Footwork
• Mental fortitude / intangibles

I've been saying for donkeys - like select others - that Usyk was a nightmare stylystic matchup for Joshua because his strengths play off really well against Joshua's limitations.

But last night Joshua answered some of this questions much better than I thought he would:-

• 
  
• His gastank was nowhere near as bad as I suspected; Usyk pushed a tremendous pace, and although Joshua was out on his feet in round 12, I am very surprised he lasted that long before blowing hard and subsequently taken out
• Usyk's IQ is truly ELITE, he does so many subtle things in there, sometimes multiple things at once; whilst AJ struggled to start with, he did make some adjustments and looked to turn the tide mid-rounds - but he could not adjust to Usyks own adjustments from round 9 onwards
• I was very impressed with Joshua's footwork last night, he simply was in there with a master of balance and it's no shame being 2nd best there
• Probably most impressed with how Josh didn't completely unravel around round 4/5 - he looked beaten and bamboozled and he KNEW it was deep waters, but he bit down cam back with some success and never quit.

I'm not sure Josh can come back and do any better against Usyk in the return all things being equal, but I'd even more take AJ against anyone else in the top 10 not named Fury.

 

Props are due regarding the no excuses manner in which Joshua has taken the loss, it a small side issue however excuses are something de rigueur for so many losing fighters nowadays, so yeah fair play to him regarding this.

 

To throw a combination you have to be in position to do so and with Usyk's movement it's hard because he's never in one place for long. Joshua was struggling to land single shots let alone combinations, which is why he took power off his shots and was just trying to land let alone land with power, when he did try and load up he missed wildly. Had he tried to throw a combination he would of just hit air and been countered badly, maybe even dropped.

People see a fighter lose and just assume he didn't try hard enough or throw enough but that's rarely the case it's usually his opponent is doing something to prevent his opponent from doing what they normally do. There's a reason why whenever Hopkins fought a volume puncher their work rate dropped off, it wasn't a case of fighter after fighter giving bad performances, it was Hopkins making them look bad, not giving them positions to throw and that's what happened with Joshua vs Usyk.

 

How about NO?

props for losing? man, you lost! congratulations!

******ed thread.