I'm not convinced that AJ easily beats Louis or Liston anymore

Povetkin would have been great to have in the 80's and 90's. Right there with Tyson, Holy, Bowe and Lewis. Those would make for great fights all of them, and I think he'd beat the second tier like Tucker, Spinks, Ruddock etc.

He's a very complete fighter. It's just hard to give up 4 inches and 20 lbs to guys like Wlad and AJ.

 

1958-1960 Liston was not slow although i agree with you that Povetkin is a bit faster and more agile but Liston was a much better fighter than Povetkin.

Liston had a much better jab, better defense, better stamina, more punching power in either hand and probably a better chin than Povetkin, he was also more versatile, he could box and brawl whereas Povetkin is a one dimensional fighter.

They had roughly the same physical dimensions, only Liston had a far longer reach and was imo physically stronger.

 

Joshua's total career (amateur and pro) is of right now 65 fights. He should continue to improve for some time yet.

 

I really want to see Usyk move up. Think it would give a better idea as to how the past guys would have done.

 

Did you EVER think AJ would easliy beat Louis or Liston? Obviously he COULD, but hes a HUGE underdog to each.

Louis and AJ a 50/50 fight?

Man, listen, i know people have gotten bigger but we are smoking some serious crack pipe here.

 

Yes to boys boxing, and yes to because war has no weight classes.

I could be very mistaken about this, but I think the bare knuckle era is when weight classes were sideshows. I'm sure you've picked up by now throughout the bare knuckle era weight classes are an informal thing. There is no x stone to x stone are x weight agreed by any consensus. There is no minimal for HW....shoot I'm not even sure when a minimal for HW actually comes in. It's a while before real weight classes evolve and I feel like since the bare knuckle era allowed smaller men to fight at HW without gaining weight it's still an era that answers plenty of size based questions. Probably more than the ancient Hellens can given how much better the history is kept.

If there were any weight classes in antiquity it'd have to be done at the city level due to how the regions are structured and governed. A city council might have wanted to do that for some reason or another, but anything bigger leads to the Olympics.

 

You mean that you were in the first place?

 

If Joshua ain’t true elite than this whole “modern skilled SHW” thing doesn’t exist.

 

True, when he fights a good fighter in his prime, he'll be tested, perhaps beaten. Povetkin in his prime I think would have beaten the 28 year old Joshua he faced.

Basically the best the heavyweight division has is three Jacks. Once Joshua fights the winner of Wilder vs. Fury, only then will there be a true King. And all three of them have a long way to go to be promoted to an Ace on Lewis or Klitschko's level.

 

Hrgovic and Dubois may have surpassed Wilder by the time Joshua next fights

 

It is best to be conservative in your predictions about an active fighter.

Make predictions only up to what they have specifically proved.

Yes you will be under rating them if they turn out to be Wladamir Klitschko, but at least you will not look like a fool if they turn out to be David Price.

My advice for now, is to make Joshua earn every inch of ground!

 

Usky is a very complete fighter.

If he could not have success at heavyweight today, then the field who could narrows.

 

The victory over Povetkin, while a good performance from AJ's perspective, also served to underline his weaknesses, namely, being rather easy to tag and sucking wind early.

Now Joshua may go onto 'improve' but I believe it will only be marginal. He is an impressive package of size, power, speed and resilience, but his build is not ideal, it is not some sign of progress. He makes it work in an era of aged and flawed heavyweights but it anchors him.

The last great batch of heavyweights, as things stand, would beat him. Tyson would be able to land too often, Holyfield would not let up during his tired periods, and Lewis would be too crafty in a long range shootout.

Having said all that, I'm a fan. He's fun to watch and good for the sport.