Anthony Joshua would have knocked out Mike Tyson: Larry Holmes

I don't see how it is relevant for comparison. Takam isn't world class, but he was outclassed.

So just because Joshua didn't blast him out in 1 or 2 rds, he would have no chance against Tyson you mean? I don't at all agree you can make such a judgement. In his 20th pro fight Mike was taken the distance and won a pretty close decision against Tillis, who had lost his three preceding fights I think. In his next fight he was taken the distance by Green, who we only remember for taking Mike the distance and later ending up in a street fight with him.

Takam fought defensively well, is experienced, durable and was clearly in good shape no matter the short notice. If you are those things and also fight defensively for most of the fight, you will not be easy to get out of there. However, Joshua did so without losing a round and taking very few punches.

He looked way more stable than Holyfield did against Bert Cooper, who also came in as a late alternate for Tyson (wasn't it even the alternate for the alternate?). From that showing you wouldn't think Holy would defeat Tyson, but guess what?

Joshua showed nothing of the wobbliness Holy did against Cooper. He got the job done with little fuss.

But I agree we should wait a bit before we match him up with ATGs. I want to see him against more top 5 opponents.

 

I think Takam is world class, or at least the lower end of world level.
I said before this fight he's the second best, second most proven, Joshua has faced. The best is Wlad.

Joshua is among the world's top 5 right now. His win over Wlad is the best win any of the current fighters have probably (I'm not including Tyson Fury as a current fighter).

Joshua v Parker would be a good fight right now, for both them.

 

You must have misread his age and the time he has been in camp too.

 

What I can say is that Joshua proved again how all around and skilled he is for such a big man. Top defence, lovely combinations - the works. Chin and especially stamina is where I see the question marks.

 

Takam looked to have pretty nice skills as well as durability. But I don't know much more about him than that he was stopped by Povetkin. Do you where he was ranked coming in?

 

Same thing. 36-37. He didn't know he was fighting the world champion until 12 days before.

 

This is spot on.

The only difference between Joshua and the top five is the hype that big josh is somehow so much further forward than they are. He is not. But on paper AJ does have the best win and is the biggest draw in boxing right now. He fills stadiums for routine fights.

 

I can't recognize Joshua being "all around and skilled", nor having a "top defence".
He's very basic. He has nice combinations, that part is true.

 

I don't know. I'd have him on the edge of the top 10, maybe just outside.

Joshua's other victims -Whyte, Breazeale, Molina - I'd rank lower at time he fought them.
Charles Martin seemed to slip inside the top 10 by some strange fortunate fluke.

 

True. But Takam was never known as a hard hitter. He usually lands good shots even against his best opponents, but doesn't have power to hurt them.

That said, AJ looked good enough and won more rounds vs Takam than Parker and Povetkin. I can't give Takam more than 1 round in this fight.

 

No 36 is 36, and 37 is 37 ,a year older.Eddie Hearn had Takam on stand by as soon as Pulev signd to fight. No doubt he was not training with the same intensity he did when it was confirmed he was replacing Pulev but he was training for the last 12 weeks.He fought 4 months ago so its not like he has had a long layoff.Joshua himslef has not fought for 6 months.The fact that Takam was 6 lbs lighter for Joshua than he was for the Parker fight also indicates he was in shape. It wasn't a great performance by Joshua but he won just about every round against a durable guy who is probably top 15/20 .

 

I rewatched Takams fights when he was announced as the late sub and could not believe people who bought tickets wanted Dillon Whyte instead. Dillon fecking whyte?

Takam gave Parker all he could handle. I decided this fight would let us know if Josh really was far ahead of Parker or not. and I told people who thought it was a mismatch that it depends how good you think Parker is because I didn't think it was a mismatch anymore than a fight with Parker would be. And it wasn't.

 

Well I thought the bookies got it wrong. Takam is as good as most of the top 5.

 

Well, then we differ. For such a big guy, I definitely think he is. More so than anyone else I've seen around his size.

 

How about Lewis? Bowe ? Wlad ? Fury ?

Joshua has no jab, not much foot movement, no head movement, a mediocre defensive game.
His offense is deadly though, that's where his strength lies.