Everyone take a deep breath: AJ just KO'd a novice with an 0-1 record

Because only Fury can talk crap and call it mindgames?

 

I thought Joshua look like crap, he should have had Francis out of there in about the first 30 seconds of the fight. Francis left was so low, I can't imagine any decent heavyweight from the past not seeing it immediately and drilling him.

I feel like a skill level display by both Fighters was very low, they were circling each other like Big Stiff statues with that pawing Jab that was just ridiculous.

 

Joshua has a huge power and sharpness advantage(the second one being strange because fury has such great timing and sharpness on his defensive slips)

And Joshua appears from what we could gather from the 2 rounds, to be much physically stronger in the clinch than tyson, since ngannou didnt come close to manhandling him on the inside.

Granted, there wasnt much of a sample size.

Styles still make fights and i wouldnt make Joshua a favorite by any means but he seems to have gotten his confidence back, his technique in krder and hasnt physically declined yet...while Fury does appear to be slipping physically(unless he simply hasnt been training right and could get back to his best)

 

Joshua just annihilated the guy that sent Fury to the canvas and did enough to win the fight. Francis was a dream match scenario or nightmare in Fury's case. Can anyone give me a good explanation as to why Fury gets the unfit, didn't take the fight seriously excuse when we as boxing fans eviscerate any fighter making excuses? What next, Fury's robe was too heavy during his ringwalk?

 

MMA fans want to see NGannou face Jones, we don't really care about his boxing career.

 

Personally, I did not agree with either Fury or AJ fighting Ngannou. Why, because he is not a professional boxer. Dude literally skipped to the front of the line without doing anything as a boxer. Ok, Fury and AJ got big paydays. What does that do for boxing?

As far as the hype goes, well, it doesn't take a genius to understand Fury haters are pumping the AJ win to get at the Fury fans. In reality, all AJ did was beat a 2nd fight novice. Something Fury should have done, but Fury had to be Fury and complicate the situation while delaying the more meaningful fight with Usyk.

 

Excellent Post.

 

Not to take anything away from AJ; he showed textbook, clinical precision and skill vs. Ngannou. But, agreeing with the topic of the thread in the sense that we shouldn't hyperventilate with claims AJ would similarly demolish Fury like a paper tiger. Like Fury himself said, styles make fights. We don't know what will happen between the two until they step into the ring... and, for that to happen meaningfully (and not in any case before 2025), Fury first has to get past Usyk... twice.

I mean, Joe Frazier beat Ali decisively in their first meetup (dropping him late with a great left hook); later the then-belt-holding Frazier literally got bounced around the ring for two rounds by George Foreman. So when Foreman faced Ali, lots of prognosticators predicted Foreman might grievously injure and effectively retire the older ex-champ.... who went on to knock the fearsome bruiser out in the 8th.

In retrospect, I was one of the many now-crow-eaters who said AJ vs Ngannou would be a worthwhile fight (basing that opinion of course on Fury's embarrassing, ill-prepared performance vs. Ngannou). But the bottom line is, with the top-level heavyweights, you never know until they're actually in the ring together.

 

I don't know Maybe b/c Fury was unfit and didn't take the fight seriously?

Just stop. You're projecting the attitude of a sore loser Fury defeated twice, maybe 3X, onto Tyson & his backers.
Try again.

 

Yep, the only excuse-making bellyacher I can think of among the top heavyweights is Wilder. To Fury's credit, he took his Ngannou loss (er, win) like a man, claiming he took Ngannou seriously and trained for him when we all could see he definitely did not.

But back to all the excitement over how badly AJ will thrash Fury just based on their respective Ngannou bouts, I'll dip back into history again: Hagler-Hearns. If you'll recall, Roberto Duran went the distance impressively with a respectful Hagler. Then Hearns knocked Duran out cold in the 2nd round. Folks including Larry Holmes proclaimed Hearns would demolish Hagler; we all know how that worked out. Bottom-line, when it comes to top-level boxers, styles matter, strategy matters, fight plans matter.

 

Great analogy with Duran, used it myself
Ali vs Frazier and Norton means he had no chance vs Foreman either

How about when he struggled with jones and got dropped heavily by Cooper, was that guy expected to dominate Liston?

Holyfield looked pretty washed prior to Tyson, was anyone really expecting him to win against a guy on a war path, admittedly against lesser opponents?

No chance can calzaghe beat Lacy, he only fights bums on home soil, etc, etc

Vitali is a gutless coward following the Byrd fight, ge will fold anytime someone hits him

Wlad was busted up by bums early in his career haye will smash him the minute he touches his chin

Ruiz smashed Aj with zero camp. He will kill him in the rematch.

Many boxers have been written off or glorified by a performance, to either rise again or fall flat on their face in a very short span

 

Because he was, very clearly, unfit and didn't take his opponent seriously.

And being unfit and disrespectful of your opponent is a serious handicap to performance... It means you can lose and/or struggle against guys who aren't very good.

Including someone who a fit and clearly genuine contender can take out with ease... As Joshua just did with Francis.

Wait.

Are we talking about Fury-Ngannou, or Fury-Wilder 3?

If AJ wipes out one guy unfit Fury struggled with... Why would you think AJ would struggle with the guy that unfit Fury struggled less with?

This logic seems sound...

But it doesn't help keep Wilder looking respectable on Fury's resume at all.

Oh well.

 

Think about it this way: Nobody has really beaten Fury but Ngannou and some other guys, unofficially. And so that means that AJ is the only man who has beaten Fury by proxy, who beat KLITSCHKO for the first time in a decade. And KLITSCHKKO beat a man who beat Vitali Klitschko and another man who beat Lennox Lewis. So, think about all of this.

 

He looked good against Helenius?

 

I can't stand any fanboyism. I have my preferred fighters but it's Red vs Blue essentially