In light of AJ's second loss and the likelihood that Usyk has his number, it's interesting to theorise how AJ would have fared against the top men post-2015. How does AJ from the Usyk fight fare against: Briedis from the Charr fight Wlad from the Fury fight Ortiz from the Jennings fight Povetkin from the Duhaupas fight Wilder from Ortiz 1 Fury from Wilder 2 Joyce from the Dubois fight
More often than not he beats them all except Fury, and those versions of Wlad and Wilder are 50/50 imo (not sure why Briedis is on this list?)
Once a fighter quits in the ring when they have more to give, or similarly fights to survive and not win when they know they're about to lose a decision, it's VERY hard to make them a favorite against fighters who have shown the better intangibles. Joshua has would be at least competitive in all of these matchups as described. Half of them are 50/50 fights, and the other half he'd be a clear underdog in.
Briedis is on the list because he was 214 lbs fighting at HW in 2015 when he brutally KO'd Manuel Charr. He went on to become a 3x cruiserweight champion and gave future AJ-conqueror Usyk his closest and toughest fight by far.
Briedis from the Charr fight Briedis murders him. Wlad from the Fury fight Wlad murders him. Ortiz from the Jennings fight Probably AJ. Povetkin from the Duhaupas fight Povetkin murders him. Wilder from Ortiz 1 50/50 Fury from Wilder 2 Fury by first degree murder. Joyce from the Dubois fight Probably AJ.
I'd have Joshua a 65-35 favourite against Joyce, and 60-40 favourite against Ortiz Against the rest, Joshua is 50-50 at best or the underdog
I dunno man. But I'm sure if 3 things. In 2015 AJ was still a prospect, if he isn't shot mentally he still has a lot to give. If Wald would have gone for the jugular he would have knocked AJ out. For a couple of years AJ was the best HW in the world (only because Fury was inactive though) That being said I'll play along: he beats them all apart from Fury, Wilder and maybe Joyce. Fury was likely the best HW during the entire of AJs prime. Wilder is gonna catch him at one point and AJ isn't going to be able to take the heat. Joyce is a bit of an unknown at the top level so it's too early to say.
