This is my last thread for the day Level 1: Gerry Cooney Level 2: Ray Mercer Level 3: Tony Tucker Level 4: Alexander Povetkin Level 5: Tim Witherspoon Level 6: Mike Tyson Level 7: George Foreman Level 8: Evander Holyfield Level 9: Lennox Lewis Level 10: Larry Holmes
Level 2 best version of Mercer is going to be a real tough time for him. I guess the absolute best with luck on his side he gets to Tyson where any luck he has runs as he is brutally KOd.
AJ does have heart, but I don’t know that he’s got enough to deal with Mercer at his best. Mercer is beatable, clearly, but old boot leather is as tough as him (not the other way around). Fighting him had to be a bit of a mind**** to the big punchers used to hurting guys, used to having their power respected. Does AJ have enough to fight through that and win on points? I’m not sure. Especially if he’s up against the Mercer who ran it real close against Lewis. so best I’ve got is that AJ gets past Cooney, ends up in a bad place with Mercer. Bad matchup.
Level 1: Cooney would be too tough an opponent and hits hard, Joshua breaks down mentally and loses the fight after Cooney catches him cleanly...
Honestly he'd have his work cut out getting past Mercer, very serious chance he loses that fight. Cooney could have given him a scare too.
Cooney was knocked out by a LHW who used to come in 2, 3 or even 4 or 5lbs under the LHW limit with same day weigh ins Mercer was beaten by a 18-9 journeyman and then the following year fought to a draw vs a 7-9-2 journeyman Tucker got stopped by Brucey Seldon and Herbie Hide AJ KO'd Povetkin Witherspoon lost to 17-14-1 scrub Everett Martin Mike was KO'd in 5 of his 7 losses and it would be 6 if Jake ''Money'' Paul didn't go easy on him, including by Buster Douglas, Danny Williams, Kevin McBride among others Foreman was KO'd by an Ali in 8 who was saved from a certain KO loss by the bell against a 22lb lighter Euro level Bivol sized HW. Chucky ''Cheese'' Wepner lasted almost twice as long vs Ali as Foreman did in Ali's next fight Holyfield wouldn't even make it out of round 1 of VADA testing for goodness sake Lewis was HL reel one punched out cold/knocked absolutely senseless in the midst of his prime by a crack addict and someone who was ironed out twice by Maskaev whose jaw was even more glassy than theirs and Lewis' was Holmes beat binmen for the most part, the kind of guys that any non-American world champion would get absolutely crucified for beating. Don't get me wrong, he beat some good guys but he fought 8-9 bums for good guy he fought and he lost twice to a LHW who, as said, often used to come in well under the LHW limit with same day weigh ins
Joshua "could" beat any of them on the right day with the right punch. He's a decent boxer with big size and a massive punch. However I think he has mental issues and / or chin issues. Any one of those fighters which has a bit of a punch might sit him down and cause him to unravel. I think the boxer types among them might have a lot more issues with him than one might think.