People are forgetting he has only been a pro for 18 odd months and the improvements have been vast. I personally didn't think he was very good at the Olympics and imo lost to salon and the Italian. However, he has taken to the pros like a fish to water and in 18 months I believe he will be ready for anyone in the world. My only concern is his balance he falls in a lot and he needs to work on thay before he meets a big puncher Like price. Josh will walk through White imo
No, it's just dumb moving from journey men to top 10 guys, he needs to fight a guy like Charr next, who has fought at the top level but come up short, then someone like Whyte who will come with belief. Why don't people expect the same from Campbell, he had a far better amateur career than Joshua and he has fought below Joshua's level of comp. Look at Joshua's first 13 fights and compare them with Wlads and Lewis's first 13 opponents and tell me whose are better? It's common knowledge that you don't rush heavyweights. I agree a step up is needed, but not a top 10 guy just yet.
Bump… Still gets hate and still held to a higher standard then any other heavyweight.. Now Joshua’s real personality is coming through I actually like him more, him shutting down Dev and pointing at Wallin like they were in Chicken Cottage has me believing
AJ has done a lot of good for boxing but he’s failed to deliver the big fight (Wilder) and has been massively overhyped. He’s got a huge amount of physical talent, natural power, and solid fundamentals. However he suffers from poor durability, is mentally shot after the first Ruiz fight, and has stamina issues. People do over hate on him but he’s had so many fanboys who’ve tried to deny these facts.
Joshua has allowed the commercial side to trump the boxing. Fury is now doing the same. You get the feeling Joshua would fight Wilder at Chicken Cottage (to paraphrase @BrokerNYC) but (a) he might lose and (b) it would destroy his "nice guy from down the road" image, seen most recently on the Louis Theroux show. The loveable local with a few kilos for personal use. Interesting how nobody's really picked up on AJ admitting to being a heavy dope smoker prior to finding boxing. Might explain his weird personality.
AJ always seems like he has been having an identity crisis. You cant be on a league of their own and loose women etc but want to be giving it the big one in face offs and telling people they aint about this life etc.. He has been PR'd to death. Time for him to just be himself - win in the ring in good fashion and the commercial elements take care of themself.
I don’t hate him. I always want to see him win, it's good for British boxing. The undisputed fight between him and Fury would have been absolutely amazing.
He's the personification of a good (or bad depending on how you look at it) promoter. Not even having a go at Joshua per se. But PPV fights that have no business being PPV fights. An early belt against a poor opponent. Unable to make fights against 2 of the other 'best in the division' heavyweights (I'm sure their teams are equally to blame don't get me wrong), and exposed against a guy that looks like he would belong more in a Sumo ring than a boxing one. Understandably IMO the public invested time and money backing the guy and feel surprised and let down following his losses and inability to make certain fights. That's more on his promotion team rather than him as a person. I know he trades off the persona, but he's been molded into that by those making money off him, so I don't actually blame the guy himself so much. But it's easy for me to see how people might dislike that. People don't like feeling conned.