12 round fights. vs 1. Ken Norton 2. Joe Bugner 3. Jerry Quarry 4. Oscar Bonavena 5. Ron Lyle 6. Earnie Shavers 7. Pinklon Thomas Does he go unbeaten? Does he lose 1? if so, to whom?
I'd favour Joshua over all of them with Thomas being the hardest stylistic challenge due to his ATG jab and rock solid chin. I could see Thomas on a good night beating Joshua.
He took a Wlad right hand big enough to knock a rhino out cold. He ate about a dozen flush shots off Ruiz before the ref stopped it and even Usyk going through the gears only really buzzed him once in 24 rounds. I think saying he has a China chin is a bit overkill.
I think Usyk buzzed him both in round 12 of the first fight, in round 3 as well i believe. And in the second fight Usyk battered him in round 10. But yes Joshua does not have a china chin. He has faced and beaten his fair share of punchers.
Assuming they are all on their best night , several of them could beat him or at least push him close. Norton could outpoint him if he gets past the early rounds But my best choice to beat him would be Pinklon who had a touch of class at his very best and might just do everything Joshua does , but a bit better.
These are all very good fighters and a few of them would be AJs 2nd best win, I'd say it's highly unlikely he goes undefeated.
IMO he beats every fight listed but has trouble with the prime Quarry be cause of his boxing ability but caveat that with until he starts to catch JQ who then tries to outfight him
His handlers must feel different than you do since he was never put back in with another puncher after Ruiz. You'd say what just said about anybody's chin if they were steered away from fighting punchers for more than half their career like Joshua has.
Yeah because Wlad, Whyte, Povetkin, Breazeale, and Ngannou are all pillow-fists... sure. Even Usyk is an underrated puncher who sets up his knockouts cleverly, adding more and more steam on his punches as each rounds go by. If his handlers were so concerned about his chin why send him out there against Usyk a second time when was rocked by him in the first fight only to weather it pretty well. Which puncher would you have wanted to see him fight anyway? Wilder's a bum and always has been who fumbled his end of the deal, Hrgovic was waiting for his shot before Dubois beat him billy goat style and Dubois himself is the man most likely to next face AJ. Even Zhang is being mentioned as an opponent for AJ and he's the hardest puncher in the sport so I think it's a stretch to say AJ has been avoiding punchers when there haven't been any with enough credentials to deserve a shot at him.