How good can Anthony Joshua be?

Heres the reality on Joshua ............ hes 6'6 240 plus . Hes fast and athletic and likes to go in there with a seek and destroy mission as soon as the bell rings ,hes great at creating his range/timing punches and if you get in his distance zone it doesn't matter because he doesn't even need the jab bc he is an inside fighter able to throw vicious pulverising combinations which makes him that more dangerous because he will beat you up inside or outside ,stalk you and try and break you down fast so even if you survive the early rounds and make it past 6 you are likely just like an injured animal trying to survive bc once he knows your hurt hes not going to coast like some past time killers have done in mid rnds ( Tyson , Klitchkos , Lewis )he wont let up .

His learning curve to really cut loose hasnt even been reached yet if Klitchko doesn't win good luck stopping this man bc on top of everything else hes also becoming a counter puncher and is getting to be a sharp shooter so one mistake against him is all it takes for him to end a fight early or controlling what you do in the ring by making you timid to throw anything back at him so your screwed either way , if you dont possess WORLD level talent your basically Fu'd .

How good can he be ? Well hes already good ,so the true question is how GREAT can he be ? Hes genetically gifted to be athletic (former track and field star ) has the right guys backing him and possesses something you cant teach and thats ring IQ and instincts of knowing where to be and when to either turn the tempo up or down . He surpasses any SHW ever at inside fighting and his shots are destructive enough that hes capable of knocking guys down even if they are blocked just with the sheer force behind them . He will be better than Lewis was ,and Frank Bruno has ZERO on him ,just look at the two fight bc theres no comparison beyond power . He will most likely be considered one of those guys like Lewis ,Tyson and Klitchkos in h2h matches as he should now bc hes that level now ,ive watched boxing since the Holmes/Tyson days , i can tell you hes an evolution from then to now .

 

Good, possibly very good. The way he fights says to me he will get KO'd in the next couple of years (with the right competition) and his legacy will largely depend on how he reacts to that.

 

Counter-punching and ring iq? Not entirely sure I agree he's shown a decent level of either yet

 

Really? From his 17 pro fights against mediocre opposition, what are you basing this on? I would be interested to know what makes you so certain he will be better than an widely-regarded ATG heavyweight...

 

Than you dont know what your looking at .

 

His pull counter right is pretty decent, but you're right, it's impossible to measure ring IQ when the level of opposition has been so low. I like AJ but the level of hype some fans are attaching to him almost makes me want him to lose, just to witness the reaction. Let's be real: better than Bruno (potentially) miles off Lennox Lewis, on the basis of what we have seen so far...

 

He could be very good, he needs to develop a fight style based around powerful counter punching to have any longevity though.
People claiming he is light years ahead of Bruno are deluded IMO, he is very similar. His mobility and flexibility are totally inferior to other contemporaries like T Fury, Chisora, Haye, even Wilder. His stamina is entirely unproven and he will need to become a master of ring generalship if he is to take a busy HW 12 rounds and win.
I believe he will be a worthy champ but no way is he head and shoulders above the competition as some seem to think.

 

Yeah man, that's more my point really like it's OK doing these things against limited/average fighters but that doesn't make someone actually good at countering etc. That dude was way over the top

 

Plot twist: maybe you don't

 

Yeah he is a bit 'Bruno 2.0', and that's not meant as an insult either. Doesn't possess Frank's jab and although he hits very hard, it's more the accumulation of hard fast shots rather than the single punch KO power of Bruno. AJ is more athletic though and moves better, is a little loser and throws way better combinations.

Chin-4-chin? Well Frank's wasn't actually that bad, it took a lot of hard punches to floor him, he was often stopped on his feet. His issue was having absolutely no coping strategy when hurt. He used to just stand there, didn't take a knee, didn't clinch or grab hold to buy time. AJ's chin hasn't really been checked yet. People overstate the Whyte left which wobbled him. But it was the two body shots he took later in the that round which stand out more. Watch him walk back to the corner at the bell on very shaky legs. My gut feeling is the chin (punch resistance) is AJ's Achilles' Heel.

Stamina has yet to bee determined. He's a gym rat, that's for sure but his bulk counts against him as a 12-round fighter. Even holding those arms to make a guard for the full duration, when the lactic acid is coursing through his body and they've taken a series of blows, is going to take some effort over the full 36 minutes.

The point is: it's WAY too early to anoint him as some do. There simply is not the evidence to do so, once you cut away the Matchroom hype...

 

If you cant see that now than you will see it soon . ATG is not a skill its status of ones career . What makes a ATG is a fighters abilities to have meaningful or long term impact ,sometimes just longetivity in boxing depending . Im sure he will be one because of what my post above states , if i had to add to anything it would be because i know what skills look like and Joshua is a cross between Lewis and M.Tyson which equals the ultimate warrior . Now he MAY get a L ,maybe 2 in his prime but so has EVERY boxer to ever lace them up with the exception of M.Tyson and Marciano who wasnt fighting real Hws , but Tyson only went undefeated for 3 years . The chances of Joshua not reaching ATG status is slim to none .

 

Hard to say at this point but hes very promising, He seems to be playing it very safe and sensible at the moment both in terms of opponent choice and the way he operates in the ring, I think behind the great nice guy image he portrays in the media there is a spiteful nasty side that hasn't manifested its self fully in the ring, I think it will come out when he finds him self having to dig deep and somebody starts getting the better of him for a couple of rounds assuming his chin holds up either that or he takes a loss i think hes the type to come back with avengence.

 

Exactly the reason why it's too early to make that call on AJ. Couldn't have put it better myself...

 

Well your in the wrong thread then because its not IF heas a ATG ,its how good can he be ....which my post PERFECTLY does and goes beyond what the thread was asking because i have the intellect to give a educated hypothesis since this is what i do. So if you incapable of putting perspective on Joshua abilities now maybe you dont know boxing as good as you think you do.

 

It was you who brought up Lewis and said AJ would be better than him and in doing so, introduced to the discussion an ATG for comparison. Conversations are a fluid process, so to cling onto the specific wording of the OP and then try to morph the debate back to its original context, when you took it in another direction in the first place, is disingenuous and doesn't really reflect the 'intelligence' you seem to feel the need to highlight.

lol, after all your posts and you preach about perspective.... bless