Anthony Joshua a top 10 puncher

Possibly top 10 although theres alot of other strong candidates aswell.

Tua
Ruddock
Foreman
Tyson
Shavers
Wilder
Lewis
Louis
Wladimir
Bruno

Etc.

 

Holy ****. These Joshua fans are rabid. The guy couldn't dent Franklin two fights ago but now that he beat an MMA guy he's a top 10 puncher. **** sake.

 

He’s up there for sure. Too tentative at times but when he lets it go he’s dangerous for most.

 

Top 10 all time? No, he's not even the hardest puncher in his own era, Wilder and Zhang for me are harder punchers.

 

He’s a great puncher but there’s no way he’s top 10 of all time. Some guys I think are bigger/similar level punchers to him are:

Deontay Wilder, Wladimir Klitschko, Lennox Lewis, David Tua, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Earnier Shavers, Sonny Liston, Donovan Ruddock, Shannon Briggs, Ron Lyle, Joe Louis, Frank Bruno.

 

I think you can add Corrie Sanders to that list too, based on their Wlad fights.

 

If only AJ could fight MMA fighters for the rest of his career he'd be the GOAT

 

Zhang, Wilder hit harder. Makhmudov imo also hits harder but he's unproven right now

 

True, Zhang, prime Peter, and Morrison could also be there.

 

I don't know about how high you're rating his power, because there are such tremendous punchers who simply weren't that good as fighters, and such tremendous punchers in ways that weren't just about raw power that the list is pretty big. But I have no idea where the lacking speed thing comes from either. He seems rather quick for his size, to me. I would credit his speed as much for his recent blowout as his power.

 

By that metric, who did Wilder beat to prove he's a better puncher than Joshua?
Joshua's resume is at least 10x better, having beaten genuine contenders (which Wilder never did, Ortiz maybe having been at best debatably in that category several years before he fought Wilder).

In complete seriousness, the majority of Wilder's wins were over journeymen with limited defensive ability - the few times he fought guys who knew how to fight defensively, even when they were packing genuinely glass chins (Szpilka for example), he struggled to find his KO...
Were any of the guys Wilder knocked out known for having particularly good chins? Not especially, no.

Don't get me wrong, Deontay clearly had power... But in context, it's very likely it's been overrated, IMHO.

I think Zhang's a pretty heavy puncher, but Joyce is so wide open to be hit hard that just how hard he hits is debatable - Parker's decent chin certainly felt it, too, though.


For the record... I'm not convinced Joshua is top ten, either.
But his vastly better resume and power in a range of shots (and in combos) is clearly legit at a good level of competition.

Just how do you balance KO power in an objective way without controlling for level of competition?
But then if you do that, do you risk overrating the guys who were better all round fighters with better resumes over guys who fought dross and knocked them out more often?
I don't think this is a straightforward question at all.

 

I will say when AJ gets his delivery system on point, that right hand is a thing of beauty