Filip Hrgovic has reached the level of Tony Tucker.

Itauma has proven nothing at all. Nothing. What you mean to say is that you like him.

Zhang is over 40. Joyce was close to it for those fights. Old men smashing old men.

 

Itauma has proven he has very high level offensive ability after scoring 10 impressive stoppages back to back. AJ had also proven that when he stopped Kevin in 2 rounds. A pre-Whyte AJ is obviously a dangerous, high level fighter, and would have been a big win even if he'd retired after losing a fight badly at 26 due to injuries or whatever. Usyk is a smart guy and Kabayel knows a tough fight when he sees one, neither wanted the smoke with Itauma.

Zhang was 39, hadn't had many hard fights and was undefeated when Hrgovic beat him; younger by 6 years than Foreman was when he beat Moorer, 3 years than Holmes was when he beat Mercer and 1+ year younger than Vitali and Povetkin were when they beat Chisora and Whyte. Joyce was 37 when a post-Hrgovic Zhang beat him the first time, with Joyce coming off a top 2 career win over Parker, and being rated as a consensus top 3-5 HW contender.

Interesting potential thread: would beating (and ruining/retiring) a 14-0, 26 year old pre-Whyte AJ be a big win?

Another: are undefeated Zhang and Itauma more formidable fighters/better wins than Chagaev and Chambers?

 

Itauma has proven NOTHING except that you like him. If the powers that be had understoon that, he would still be undefeated and on his way to good developmental fights.

Zhang was an old guy. Real old. Your post his so stupid that you do not realize that he did have a terrible fight where he got a generous draw had kidney failure.

 

He's proven enough for Shane McGuigan to say he's one of the most ferocious 6-8 round fighters of all time. But McGuigan doesn't "understoon".

You're so dumb that you can't comprehend that a poor performance can lead to underestimation, and give you an advantage subsequently. An overconfident, less than fully focused and motivated Hrgovic thought he was getting the "kidney failure" Zhang and almost paid for it. Dubois and Parker conqueror Joyce knew that Zhang was much better than the Forrest fight suggested but he lacked the ability to win.

 

I am sure he doesn't "understoon."

I am not even sure what that means.

But I am dumb.

Barry McQuigan saying something isn't proof of anything. Wins in the ring are.

 

Tucker lost his first title defense, while it's not known for Hrgovic.
The comparison isn't realistic.

 

Most fighters today are unproven because they refuse to face each other. That's simply a product of the times.

Wilder is considered a quality win despite being almost totally unproven

Fury hadn't beaten a ranked opponent in years when he fought Usyk and hasn't subsequently.

 

Ituama kept it up for 8 rounds against Hrgovic. Honestly, that was matchmaking gone horribly wrong. Ituama may well have beat all the other belt holders that night. He looked absolutely phenomenal until he dumped everything he had left and then couldn’t move. So skilled, fast, powerful.

 

Itauma was beaten by the only moderately talented guy he faced. That is the reality.

 

So was Wilder.

 

Yes, Wilder was a fraud. I have spent well over a decade trying to tell everyone that. But at least Wilder managed to stay undefeated to keep the hype train on the rails.

 

So if the argument is Hrgovic is the 5th best European descended heavyweight of all time, then we have to include Americans of European descent.

Rocky Marciano would undoubtedly have to be ranked higher than Hrgovic. Maybe you can argue Hrgovic would win H2H due to the absurd size difference, but legacy wise, Marciano did more.

If you’re arguing that Hrgovic is the 5th best European descended heavyweight that was born/raised in Europe, I’d still argue that Schmeling would probably have to be ranked higher. Beating Jack Sharkey (should’ve been twice) and Joe Louis, those are better wins.

The Louis win is better than Hrgovic’s Itauma win, and beating Sharkey was better than Hrgovic’s Zhang win because Sharkey was the champion at the time.

 

Resume wise sure H2H not quite. But he's close.

There's a poster you can summon by praising Tony Tucker. No @ just call Tucker one of the great HW's of the 80s and he'd give you the business. He hasn't posted on this thread but has left lots of likes lol.

 

Tony Tucker was a good boxer especially in his prime, he was fortunate though to be more active in his day.

I think it would be competitive fight, but I just feel as of now Tony Tucker just has a bit more to him than Hrgovic.

 

I could say the same about you the guy with the ludicrous opinions about Tony Tucker in every thread about him.

Sorry to tell you he isn't one of the greats and he's not top 5 Heavyweight of the 80s.

And only you have that bizarre opinion which says more about you than it does me.