How good of a run is Franklin, Helenius, Wallin, Ngannou?

Pretty crappy in my eyes. Franklin was a meh fight. Comeback layup easy fights. Had to build that confidence after mental melt down from the Usyk loses. Helenius was put to bed in rnd 1 by Wilder and I believe took this fight on short notice. Wallin was all hype. Famous for losing to Fury . And now we have the penultimate win if he beats a guy with a career 0-1 .

Joshua is staying busy but these aren't great matches.

 

Pretty **** poor but understandable Matchroom are positioning AJ to cash out against a Fury or Wilder before his loss so will definitely not be taking on risky fights like a Zhang, Hrgovic or even a Joyce/Dubois who pack a punch and won’t go down easy

 

If you are comparing Joshua’s run to a ‘bum of the month’ tour you don’t know boxing.

Helenius was average (his level), Joshua beating him was unimpressive if anything he laboured to that win. The Franklin performance was ok although I think the guy is a tad underrated. Again, I wouldn’t put him in the top 20 but I think he’s a solid enough comeback opponent after two losses.

Wallin was good and that narrative was being pushed by several others prior to the fight. It was a good win, especially considering Wallin was coming off an impressive win over Gassiev.

He’s now fighting Ngannou who is highly unproven and a novice (I am very critical of AJ not fighting Hrgovic next, this is a carefully chosen fight by him and his team). He showed solid boxing fundamentals in the Fury fight - I still don’t like this fight and expect Joshua to win.

With all this being said, which other top heavyweights are staying this active? The opposition may not be stellar, but at least he’s getting the fights in. I think his win over Wallin was also quite impressive given Otto’s performances against Gassiev and Fury.

 

I was kind of with you until the Wallin rating. Wallin had been ranked in and around top 10 by TBRB since his fight with Fury. Being as high as #4 in the lead up to Joshua. He has a solid if unspectacular win over Breazeale. Many claimed Whyte had ducked him based on never rearranging their fight (with some saying Joshua would also avoid him). Wallin also made easy work of Gasiev in his previous fight.

It would have been a good win for any of the current top contenders, especially the dominant manner in which Joshua dealt with him.

I also think Wallin would comfortably box to a points decision over Ngannou as well. So I don't consider a win over Ngannou being anything special. This is a money grab from Joshua and a chance to get one over Fury.

 

Indeed. I think this is something that AJ deserves a lot of credit for. Sure, the opposition could be better, but the man is staying busy and being reasonably entertaining while doing it. This is more than you can say for everyone else in the division at the moment.

 

The #1 American HW
The #1 Finnish HW
The #1 Swedish HW
and the #1 Cameroonian HW

Impressive run

 

Listen...His Excellent Edward Hearrns understands how fragile AJ's mental state is. After the embarrassment of losing to the Fat Burrito, he desperately wanted to line him up with soft opponents. Unfortunately, Usyk was in the way. We know that at the time the Ukrainian was considered to small for AJ and that AJ would walk through him. Well, we know what happened. After his frantic rant post fight, Edward knew he had to do SOMETHING to fix his fragile kitten's mind. Therefore....the great Comeback Ride commenced. The 21st Century version of the Bum of the Month was initiated to sooth AJ psychologic state. Edward is hoping fervently fro the big UK PAAAAAAAY DAAAAAY against Tyson Fury, now that Wilder is history.

What will Edward do WHEN Francis obliterates AJ? Nothing. There is no rebuilding the brand once the world see Joshua stretched out on the canvas by Ngannou.

 

Another guy who is about as amusing as cancer

 

borderline pathetic. as is Furys.

 

Sensible view... I suppose b/c I agree
I wonder if the OP grades himself that strict and I'm not an AJ fawner. It's a fair to good run with AJ meeting expectations. About on par to Joe Parker's recent run, except many had Joe losing to DW.

If AJ defeats Francis & Joe defeats Zhang, whose had the better run? ATM I lean toward Joe.

 

Three guys who arguably arent top 10 level and a guy from a different sport. And the best part is the guy from the different sport is probably the best opponent of the four....

 

I agree with this
People call me a fury fanboy but his recent choices are pathetic and Joshua is doing the same

 

Joshua is merely keeping himself busy and also relevant whilst all the attention is on Undisputed and also Parker v Zhang to an extent. Whilst it might not be the greatest of runs it is acceptable,understandable and absolutely the right thing to do in regards to business at this stage of Joshua’s career. Joshua’s management are going after old opponents of Fury in a sort of way like “we beat them better than you” fashion whilst looking for the cash out fight with Fury and also showing the public that Joshua is back and beating opponents better than Fury did so whilst applying the pressure it also implys in certain peoples minds that Joshua beats Fury bringing even more attention to a potential fight between the two,even if Fury loses to Usyk and Joshua does the same with Ngannou everybody knows that Fury v Joshua is still a massive fight and does huge numbers.Joshua’s management is doing a very similar play to what Eubank did all those years ago whilst looking for the Benn fight .