Joshua has developed a pretty good heavy jab, a crushing right hand, a good 1-2, a debilitating uppercut, and some mean body shots. He has good balance, decent technique, and knows how to utilize his 6'6 frame and how to get his massive 250 pounds into his punches. Although he lacks speed, stamina, and that fast twitch explosive snap, it doesn't matter. Joshua is fairly accurate and can turn a guy's lights out with his heavy-handed bombs. The guy is a genuine h2h threat with impressive raw destructive power whether you like him or not. He has brutally KOd some strong big men such as Wladmir, Whyte, Breazeale, Wallin, and now Francis. Anyone who gets nailed flush by Joshua's best punches is going to be in trouble. I think based on raw power he's top 10 and is a very dangerous overall opponent.
Possibly top 10 although theres alot of other strong candidates aswell. Tua Ruddock Foreman Tyson Shavers Wilder Lewis Louis Wladimir Bruno Etc.
Holy ****. These Joshua fans are rabid. The guy couldn't dent Franklin two fights ago but now that he beat an MMA guy he's a top 10 puncher. **** sake.
Top 10 all time? No, he's not even the hardest puncher in his own era, Wilder and Zhang for me are harder punchers.
He’s a great puncher but there’s no way he’s top 10 of all time. Some guys I think are bigger/similar level punchers to him are: Deontay Wilder, Wladimir Klitschko, Lennox Lewis, David Tua, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Earnier Shavers, Sonny Liston, Donovan Ruddock, Shannon Briggs, Ron Lyle, Joe Louis, Frank Bruno.
Wilder I agree. The eye test and the way he dismantles guys with a single sizzling right hand is shocking. Who the hell did Zhang KO to prove he's a better puncher than Joshua other than Joyce? Joshua's resume is 10x better and he's beaten better opponents proving his power against ranked guys and champions. You can be a top 10 puncher without being the best puncher of your era. Lewis arguably hit harder than Tyson, but Tyson is a top 10 puncher for sure.
I don't know about how high you're rating his power, because there are such tremendous punchers who simply weren't that good as fighters, and such tremendous punchers in ways that weren't just about raw power that the list is pretty big. But I have no idea where the lacking speed thing comes from either. He seems rather quick for his size, to me. I would credit his speed as much for his recent blowout as his power.
By that metric, who did Wilder beat to prove he's a better puncher than Joshua? Joshua's resume is at least 10x better, having beaten genuine contenders (which Wilder never did, Ortiz maybe having been at best debatably in that category several years before he fought Wilder). In complete seriousness, the majority of Wilder's wins were over journeymen with limited defensive ability - the few times he fought guys who knew how to fight defensively, even when they were packing genuinely glass chins (Szpilka for example), he struggled to find his KO... Were any of the guys Wilder knocked out known for having particularly good chins? Not especially, no. Don't get me wrong, Deontay clearly had power... But in context, it's very likely it's been overrated, IMHO. I think Zhang's a pretty heavy puncher, but Joyce is so wide open to be hit hard that just how hard he hits is debatable - Parker's decent chin certainly felt it, too, though. For the record... I'm not convinced Joshua is top ten, either. But his vastly better resume and power in a range of shots (and in combos) is clearly legit at a good level of competition. Just how do you balance KO power in an objective way without controlling for level of competition? But then if you do that, do you risk overrating the guys who were better all round fighters with better resumes over guys who fought dross and knocked them out more often? I don't think this is a straightforward question at all.