Better Resume: Joe Calzaghe or Anthony Joshua

They were just examples.

Yes, Martin was horrible.

However, Joe has many Martin type opponents on his resume.

 

Slappy Joe would be a nightmare match up for Usyk if he were bigger.

 

So how much weight are you putting on AJ's three losses in dominant fashion?

 

Charles Martin and Carlos Takam? Really? Charles Brewer, Byron Mitchell & Sakio Bika are better wins IMO - Zags resume really suffers for not having Ottke on it, but barring Jones & Toney there were few other names he could have had that he 'should ' have had and neither Toney or Jones stayed at 168 for more than a couple of fights - Jones understandbly had his eye on his crazy Heavyweight win, whereas Toney could hardly have stayed at 168 with his weight issues. The attempts to getHopkins @168 are well documented - should have happened in 2003, but Bernard - wisely - doubled his pay demands!

 

Charles and Takam were widely ranked in the top 10, that is why I named them.
Byron Mitchell is a good shout out, I should have actually listed him.

Now you are playing coulda, shoulda, woulda. Which has little to do with what actually happened and the resumes we have to compare.

Joshua still has years left and he could surpass Calzaghe.

 

How much weight do they carry?

How much weight does Joe not having fought anybody even comparable to a prime Usyk, carry?

You think that Joe was on another level because he was undefeated?

He could barely beat Reid and a 43 year old Hopkins.

What would be the equivalent of fighting Usyk?

A fight vs who?

A prime Toney?

Ward?

Roy?

Who?

Also, this is resume vs resume.

Yes, the losses have to be factored. Of course. But then context needs to be applied.

We can’t automatically choose Joe, just on the grounds that he was undefeated.

There’s a lot to consider.

 

The answer is Joe C by a comfy UD

Joe's accomplishments, record @168 exceed AJs @HW. A small HW sized Joe UDs AJ similar to Usyk.

 

Another one who’s not read the thread title.

And what do you mean a small HW sized Joe UD’s AJ?

 

Hahah take a deep breath my man this is simply a discussion.

I'd say his fight against Kessler was the closest in quality against a guy in his prime. Kessler isn't on Usyk's level, but he did win the fight. Your prime example of how AJ has a great resume is built off of the back of two losses where he was clearly outclassed.

I think the Ruiz loss was terrible and has really tarnished his legacy. Ruiz is not a championship level fighter, Joe would never lose to a guy like that.

 

I know it’s only a discussion.

It’s all cool.

I wasn’t asking in a certain tone or anything.

I was just genuinely asking how much weight they carry.

Kessler is nowhere near Usyk.

Yes, the Ruiz loss definitely hurts him. And especially the manner of the loss. But he came back and rectified it like Lewis did against Rahman and McCall.

Yes, Joe didn’t lose to anybody of that calibre. But he did struggle to beat Robin Reid, where he barely beat him. And that was sandwiched between 2 losses for Reid. Reid and Ruiz are definitely comparable.

I never said that AJ has a great resume.

But Joe doesn’t have one either.

The best win of his entire career was over a 43 year old Bernard Hopkins, who he struggled with and barely beat.

Yes, AJ lost to Usyk twice.

Yes, Joe didn’t.

But again, Joe simply never fought a guy of that calibre. And considering that he barely beat Hopkins and Reid, it’s very doubtful that Joe would have beaten someone on Usyk’s level. And that’s why I asked you what you thought an equivalent opponent may be.

Again, this is actually quite close.

Joe has names like Roy Jones and Eubank etc, but it’s close if you apply context.

Again, Joe has a weak resume. He spent a whole decade fighting mostly low level, non world class fighters in the defence of a lightly regarded title.

So the main reason it’s close, is that out of his 45 opponents, only about 10 of them were world level, with none of them being great and in their prime.

It seems that people are automatically choosing Joe because he was undefeated. But again, if you look closely, it’s actually much closer than most people realise. It’s certainly not a landslide win in Joe’s favour.

 

Yes but Ruiz isn't.. he BATTERED AJ.. Don't come back with any excuses either.. that diabetic ball of cellulite should barely even be in a ring, so don't start making excuses for Joshua.. Joshua was almost KOd by a shot Wlad too , who for some reason held off putting his lights out & allowed him to regroup. I've never seen Joe that like hurt. Not even Mitchell.. Obviously no shame in losing to Usyk but the fact is he did, twice.. Calzaghe conquered all his foes.. Joshua even has the added advantage of being the bigger fighter against most of his opposition too, yet still can't find his identity as a fighter or make his true stamp on the division.. I mean who considers this the Joshua era?

 

At this point, Calzaghe easily.

But AJ's career is a work in progress.

Ask again in seven or eight years.

 

The first Ruiz fight puts a serious dent in AJ's legacy. You keep talking up Usyk but he is still unproven at heavyweight. He went life and death with Chisora and got saved by the ref against Dubois (debatable low blow and could easily have been ruled the other way). Usyk only has 2 good wins at heavyweight and they were against AJ himself. Usyk could be the best heavyweight but he still has a lot to prove himself.

 

Again, the question was not which boxer was the greater boxer. It was a about resumes, something you seem to be unable to grasp.

 

Lately Joshua could have really upgraded his resume.

He had the chance to fight Wilder before Parker did, also Fury, also Joyce before Zhang wrecked him and also Zhang.

He could have added at least three of those to his resume. Instead he chose the easy path.

It's sad because he's a great man in many ways, and a lock-in for English knighthood, in the footsteps of Elton John. But his own fears and insecurities held him back.