AJ folds in the changing rooms and has to get his nappy changed by Eddie Hearn A young hungry big man with a jab who comes to fight and can punch will always beat AJ. He'd get unsettled and thrown off by the first jab Wardley lands. AJ's saving grace to this rep is Fury is still not a natural puncher and he has bad elbows so if they ever fight then it's possible AJ can make the distance if he doesn't let Fury tee off on him early.
AJ is defo technically better than Wardley, I'd say AJ is quicker too and hits as hard as Wardley at least if not more so. At the same time, most importantly - they both have credibility and are proven fighters. But, I can't see AJ's chin holding up from a half decent shot from Wardley.
Iron chin? He's got a decent chin, but I'd say iron chin is premature; he hasn't fought anyone with elite power.
Now that you mention it Wardley's chin is a really big advantage to hold over AJ (Wardley can definitely hurt AJ but can AJ definitely hurt Wardley?) so I think I lean to Wardley. But AJ is at least as good as Huni, so he could definitely pull out a decision just as likely
Wardley's a limited fighter but the truth is, Joshua never beat many good hungry determined boxers of 30 or younger, with big power and good chin. Dillian Whyte in 2015 might be the closest to that profile and I don't think Whyte had the chin, tbh. Parker in 2018? Good young fighter, but didn't have any big power going in (Cojanu went full 12 with him about 10 months earlier). Most of Joshua's better 'name' opponents were old men. 36 to 41 years old. Who'd been around a bit.
Id favour AJ, i favour AJ against most, doesnt mean he will win. Wardley could very much do a demolition job on him similar to Dubois, even at AJs peak. Fabs got a tendency to get struck with right hands, you cant take too many clean right hands from Anthony Joshua i dont care who you are. 77% AJ by knockout 23% Wardley by knockout As you have all come to learn, Fab only needs 1%! WAR BY NAME WAR BY NATURE!
Joshua wins. You make the argument that Joshua doesn't like power punchers, but wardley had Huni and Parker and they aren't power punchers at all. Parker displayed terrible punching technique in their fight. If joshua has wardley in a vulnerable position it is over. And prime joshua was game. "Catch and shoot joshua" would be tough enough to block wardley's punches and with wardleys flaws still shining through, he would give joshua some opening when put under pressure sooner or later. Joshua wasn't as bad as people seem to remember him, back then. He was actually pretty good with less flaws than wardley. When he was still sticking rigorously to the few things that were working for him instead of trying to learn a different, more varied style. Tank-joshua wins against wardley. Only thing that has me second guessing this is wardley's newfound defensive prowess, where he rides shots all of a sudden and has really decent headmovement in close distance.
Wardley throws fast counter hooks while AJ didn't, he's a better counter puncher than AJ and has a better chin, he's a better inside fighter with better head movement, he landed far more power shots on Parker than AJ did.