If AJ loses to Usyk and retires, what would his legacy be?

I'm not sure where he would rank all time as he's still active and these things take a little space to make that assessment.
Joshua achieved a lot with so few fights and fought far better competition than either Wilder or Fury. has the better resume to show for it.
I never really warmed to his persona and always thought he had a fake personality. however he was always in exciting fights and unified and made a lot more money than his comtemporaries. So yeah there will be revisionist haters taking a dump on him saying he was always crap.
It just doesn't tie in with reality though. as you can't get that far unify and make that money from no talent or ability.
His downfall wasn't a physical decline but a mental one. I think he should have taken time out to rebuild at an earlier time as it struck me that he was the big fish in a little pond.
Maybe if he'd gone to the US a few years ago and got some different insight things may have been different. Although that might not have made any difference in the Usyk fight. sometimes someone always has your number.
At the moment though we don't know because the rematch hasn't happened yet. most are writing off Joshua but as I've said from the start if Joshua goes the 12 and it's a bit closer than last time out he could well get some home cooked decision. anyone predicting a heavyweight fight as a certainty doesn't really understand...it's unpredictable that's why we like the Heavies in the first place.

 

If the rematch with Usyk is competitive, but Joshua loses and retires with a 24-3 record, probably not very highly.

If Joshua loses badly in the return (like beaten up and stopped, or if he quits again) and retires at 32 ... probably even lower.

27 fights aren't a lot of fights and 24 wins aren't a lot of wins.

A number of heavyweight champs kind of fizzled when they had 20-something fights ... like Spoon, Dokes, etc. But they kept fighting and stacked a bunch of wins afterward to pump up their records a bit. Hell, Witherspoon added another 30 wins after his last title fight. When he lost to Smith, he had 25 wins. He retired with 55 wins. Dokes only had 26 wins when lost his title to Coetzee. Dokes finished with 53 wins.

Not that Joshua needs to rack up 45 or 55 wins, but 24 isn't a lot.

Joshua never should've lost to the late sub Ruiz. He should've stopped him in three in their first fight when he put him down.

And Joshua should've steamrolled a middle-aged cruiserweight battling chronic arm injuries in Usyk.

Joshua never should've lost those two fights in a million years.

Joshua needs to win the rematch with Usyk. He needs to stop losing to guys he's supposed to walk over. And he needs to start stacking wins.

But even as I type that, he doesn't seem to have the mentality to do that.

Everyone can see the guy has all the physical tools. But he lacks something mentally that the best heavyweights all time had.

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Maybe he'll surprise everyone.

 

Top 20-30 all-time great range would be rather generous in my opinion. I would put each boxer on this (https://www.ringtv.com/488242-ring-greatest-heavyweight-time/) list comfortably above him, with Vitali and the relics of bare knuckle era being the debatable ones, since some criteria might lessen their standing in an all-time rankings. Still, to be in the 20-30 range he would have to contend with the likes of Patterson, Carnera, Sharkey, Schmelling, Walcott, Charles and other great fighters, not to mention either Usyk or Fury automatically dropping him one spot lower by existing.

AJ really doesn't impress me much.

 

An overhyped, marketing creation who made millions off of a gullible public.
Probably the best managed fighter in history.

 

He would go down as the 6th most accomplished heavyweight of the last 15 years, below Fury, Usyk, the Klitschko's and Wilder. A very good fighter but initially significantly overhyped and overrated, very questionable whether he would have beaten some of the other better contenders of the post-Klitschko era. The result of Fury-Usyk would affect how people saw him to some degree, as would the nature of his second loss to Usyk. There is still a lot to play for.

 

Not very high.

Probably the best HW whilst Fury was on his come binge.

 

Top 25-30 range.

 

You should be asking what it means for his legacy when he knocks Usyk out become the 3 times unified heavyweight champion of the world.

 

Wilder says hi

 

Top 50 all-time HW at minimum, arguably top 40. Couldn't go any higher than that, but that's still very good.

 

He was never beating Usyk. Skills pay the bills.

 

It would also depend what Usyk does after. If Usyk lost to Fury or someone else that would drop AJs stock a bit more. Without a doubt one of the best since Wladimir though.

 

Complete nonsense. Wilder above Joshua based on what exactly?
Joshua although not undisputed did unify when Wilder at the same point was fighting cabbies ffs.
Wilders claim to fame is getting smashed by an out of shape Fury on multiple occasions.
Your opinion cannot be taken seriously at all.

 

Sold a lot of under armor and nutritional supplements to guys who lift weights once a week?

His legacy will be that we should never again be subject to the horrors of a London based hype machine in 5th gear. I hadn't seen opinionated casuals like that since a Mike Tyson highlight video comment section in '08.