How can so many people be fooled so easily?

It's probably on par with Holy's HW resume at the same age. Declining Dokes, 40+ Holmes, 40+ Foreman and 1-1 with Bowe.

"Dismal" is a strange wording to me. Yes, was he talked about as a top 5 HW of all time, it would be dismal in relation to that company. But who is doing that?

He has the deepest resume currently at HW by some margin, and all those wins have been emphatic, and he has constantly been looking to unify since he first became champ. I haven't seen anyone say more about him than that, so I don't where all this hype is taking place.

At the same time we have posters on this forum saying Fury is the GOAT after beating old Wlad and Wilder... If we're talking hype I don't think Joshua is where you need to look.

 

I wasn't comparing Wlad to Pulev.

And in relation to age, again, I wasn't referring specifically to pulev, I was commenting on the criticisms of people referring to age, as many people slaughter AJ for the amount of older fighters he's fought.

People, like myself, have argued you cannot have a go at AJ for that and then jizz over Fury's win of Wlad then.

We're saying that Fury's best win came against a 39 year old, so if we're going to cream ourselves over Fury's wlad win we have to lay off Joshua for beating older fighters.

39-40 year old Pov/Wlad are still tough opponents, and even in modern day times they're still top 5 fighters.

 

This is just an assumption and not a fact.

 

I don't think even prime Pulev was a legit top 10 fighter.
Every time he stepped up he was humiliated.

 

You're entitled to your opinion but I'd rate Bowe a lot better than Ruiz, and old versions of Holmes and Foreman are far better than old versions of Pulev and Povetkin. I'll give the Wlad win some credit, of course, despite Wlad coming off a loss.
Holyfield's 3 round KO of Douglas seems to get left off, presumably because Douglas came in a bit fat. But I can think of far fatter heavyweight fighters, like the disgusting blob AJ lost to.

You haven't been watching SKY TV broadcasts these last 4 1/2 years obviously.

He became IBF champion by beating a laughable Charles Martin, who became 'champion' by beating a fighter no one even remembers.
He added the vacant WBA when Fury went off the rails, by beating the ex-champion Wlad, a dethroned champion coming off a loss.
He added the WBO by beating Parker.
Yes, he unified.
Credit where it is due.

You haven't been watching SKY TV broadcasts these last 4 1/2 years obviously.
They hype AJ up further by hyping up his opponents, even when they are poor opponents.

Also, the very fact that people are listing old guys like 39 year old Pulev, who wasn't much good to begin with, as meaningful resume .... is a bit weird. But like I said, it's not AJ's fault his resume consists of guys like that, because the division is in a dreadful state.

On this forum we have everything.
Joshua beats Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes easily on this forum, if you look for it.

 

Fair enough.
I don't think Fury's win over Wlad was a truly great win but it is the best win of the current heavyweights probably.

I think AJ's record of beating older fighters is relevant because if you were to name the "good" fighters he beat who were under 35 you'd probably be left with : Ruiz, Parker and Whyte ......... his record is 3 wins and 1 loss and only 1 KO win.
For someone with a reputation as a destroyer, it raises some questions.

 

I don't think those version of Holmes and Foreman were much (for their age absolutely, but not in more absolute terms). I think the Wlad AJ beat was significantly better and Povetkin two years ago probably as good as any of them.

Bowe really looked good in terms of technique, but don't think he had one win over a ranked opponent except Holy. Ruiz also looks good (technique wise, not physically ) but hasn't much in terms of resume

I actually just plain forgot about Buster, but anyhow can't really say that that version was better than Parker, who at least turned up in shape.

I can't really see that the wins differ much, no.

And, no, I don't have Sky, so haven't watched their broad casts.

 

That fight is hard to predict for me. I would be surprised if Fury really kicked his ass, though, but not so much if he tapped his way to a points win like he did against Wlad. I would love it if he really was to go for it, though. Would love just to see the fight.

 

If he'd beat them in their prime it would be more impressive, but someone being old doesn't mean bad or unimpressive. You have to look at it on a case by case basis.

40 year old Wlad would slaughter prime Wilder. I put up a poll about it and 90% of people think Wlad KO's Wilder.

 

No one said they weren't old. But both Pulev and Povetkin were #1 ranked mandatory challengers. It shows that the era is weak, but you can't fault AJ for taking on literally the best opponents in 2 different sanctioning bodies.

It's a bit like the Marciano era. Can't fault the champion when he's facing the best. Usyk isn't the most exciting guy but he's also a mandatory for the wbo belt. If Fury and Wilder can't sort their issues out that's the next logical step.

If what matters most is "how" you beat someone how is Fury's pitter patter snooze fest against Wlad more impressive than AJ's epic come from behind KO after a thrilling war?

 

Well, he's received A LOT of hype.
For one example, they opened the Joshua-Martin PPV show with footage of Ali v Foreman Rumble in the Jungle etc. and made a big deal of the rich history of "world heavyweight championship" ..... as someone else pointed out already, this stuff wasn't just ridiculous hype, it was almost an insult at the time to Tyson Fury who'd just wrested the legitimate championship from Wlad a few months earlier. (and an insult to knowledgeable fans who knew the IBF belt was dubious as hell in those months)
A few fights later they were virtually calling Joshua unbeatable.

Joshua's a credit to British boxing but they went overboard with that point, hammering it home to the exclusion of all others and all reason. It went a bit overboard and I don't think it's been a great influence on Joshua to be honest. He spoke of feeling the pressure and how the loss to Ruiz relieved that but I wonder whether there's still some tension there.

 

That was interesting to hear. "Unbeatable" after beating Martin and Breazale... Good way of putting pressure on someone, for sure.

 

In Sweden he is more or less unknown to non-boxing fan, as is just every boxer. I have also hardly been in General until more recently, when Fury is all the rage, so the talk about AJ hype puzzled me a bit.

 

The 90's is seen as a great era, but you had Holmes as top challenger and old Foreman and a former LHW as undisputed champions... There are some embarrassing features in most eras.