where does anthony joshua rank all time ?

I don't know to be honest but as a 2 time heavyweight champion with 9 wins in world title fights and 9 title defenses he is closer to the tons past heavyweights who generally get revered far more than he does than given credit for.

 

Around Top 30 probably.

 

But sometimes it's about context rather than statistics.

Like Wilder for example has plenty of title defences but the context of his opponents has to be taken into consideration.

Joshua for example won his title off one of the weakest belt holders in history in Charles Martin.

Joshua was only a 2 time Heavyweight champion because he lost in a shocking defeat to Ruiz which hasn't aged that well.

Joshua has a decent resume Parker, Whyte, Old Wladimir, Old Povetkin.

But it's hard to assess where he rates in this era especially since he just got destroyed by Dubois who can end up having a better career than him.

So potentially Joshua could end up being the 3rd best British Heavyweight of this era.

I'd personally have Joshua outside the top 20 but I'm not sure exactly where I'd rate him.

 

Fair response. I mentioned the 2 time heavyweight champion thing because champions most the time lose and then they have to win there belts back which to me is very important. Of course the context would be that Joshua perhaps shouldn't have lost to Ruiz in the first place.

It's true that other guys from his era may up being thought of as being better than him depending on what they do in the future but that's based on a future achievements and of course we have to see if AJ can find another 3rd wind himself in that scenario.

 

Top 30 heavyweight ever. Lot of nice wins. No amazing wins. Had some bad losses. Overall around top 30 I'd say

 

After witnessing Ruiz Jr playing with him like a rubber ball, I say below top 50.

 

I think what brings AJ down in the historical rankings is the fact that he never became THE heavyweight champion. He unified 3 belts and the consensus started to form around him, but he never earned a valid claim to the lineage. He didn't beat Wilder to start the new one and didn't beat Fury to claim the existing one after he came back. He was the best heavyweight in the world for 2 years, and some people don't value the lineal championship that highly, but the fact remains and it plays against his historical rankings and legacy.

 

Without giving it much thought i voted top 30

 

In my opinion, out of the top 150 fighters in boxing history. Joshua was a great fighter but he lacks victories against a true champion, if you consider that the only one he has is against a 41-year-old Klitschko, who hadn't fought for two years and was in his last match of his career. Then AJ has a heavy defeat against Andy Ruiz and another very heavy one against Dubois.

The alphabet band and its belts mean little to me (there are four world titles for each weight class....), one of the most important things when I have to judge the greatness of a boxer is who are the best boxers that boxer faces and what he does with them. And then also when, how and with who he loses.

 

I am assuming the title is just heavyweights even though it doesn't clarify.

 

Joshua was never the best HW in the world because he did not defeat his main adversaries. It's not complicated. 2017-2019 the boxing world was clamoring for Wilder-Joshua to determine who was the best. Each held a claim to the crown. They never determined it. In the sport of boxing you have to fight the fights. You don't have legacy based on speculation.

Joshua got splattered by Andy and his career as a serious titlist was essentially over. Wilder got destroyed by Fury, same thing.

Joshua can never claim he was the best HW at any point in his career. This, along with four losses (two by devastating stoppage), severely diminishes how he will be viewed historically.

 

Who? Never heard of him

Oh wait he's that highlight reel bodybuilder who gets dropped and stopped all the time and acts weird in the ring like he never was a real fighter, which he wasn't.

 

Joshua was clearly the best heavyweight in the world between 2017 and 2019. Wlad was the best active heavyweight in the world when AJ beat him. After that, AJ had 2 Top 5 wins in Parker and Povetkin in 2018. Wilder wasn't even close to the status AJ has. He had nothing on him, since pre 2018 he only beat 1 Top 5 fight which was Stiverne. He was clear number 2 and solidifed himself as such by beating Top 5 rated Ortiz, but his resume still couldn't compare to AJ's. After that, he had a draw with Fury he should have lost, so it was 1. AJ 2. Wilder/Fury. After AJ lost Wilder and Fury had a claim to be the best. AJ was universally recognized as number 1 in all indepdent rankings and holding 3 out of 4 alphabet belts. He also beat number 3 as number 1 which sometimes created a new lineage. You're trying to re-write history, but you're being bad at it.

 

People also forget that Wilder chose to fought Fury instead of Joshua for less money.