Joshua haters: who should the man have fought?

THIS.

 

There is no who is ducking who game. Wilder went on record admitting he ducked. And Joshua tried to make the Fury fight. Not his fault to any degree it fell through. He didn't fight either and the fault lies on the other side, but you are right, he never fought either.

 

Good points. Some AJ fans claim that Fury and Wilder were "holding up the division" with their historic trilogy but I'd argue that Fury and Wilder were the HW division during that period, certainly after AJ lost to Ruiz. Fury was lineal champ, Wilder was WBC champ with 7/10 defences, both were unbeaten in the first two, Fury was 1-3 ranked in every fight, Wilder was 2-3 ranked in every fight. AJ was out in the cold during this period, suffering 2 losses in 4 fights to wide underdogs between the start and the conclusion of the trilogy.

It's not even accurate to say that AJ fought the best fighters available: he could have fought undefeated top 5 southpaw power puncher Ortiz in 2016 instead of Wilder-victim Molina but Hearn signed Ortiz to put him on the undercard and hand short notice Dave Allen his first stoppage loss for peanuts. The mandatory system has been perfect for AJ as Hearn has been able to pick the easiest fights for him at any given time: Usyk would have fought AJ back in 2019 before he was 33 but easier mandatories with Miller and washed up inactive Pulev were pursued instead.

There's always a lot of spin with these public negotiations, none of us are privy to the details but my view is that AJ and Wilder "ducked" each other as neither were willing to travel to the other's backyard. This is consistent with the fact that neither showed a willingness to travel in their career to fight quality opponents as the B-side (other than Wilder's cancelled trip to Russia after Povetkin failed a drug test) and even when AJ lost to Ruiz in America (further supporting the theory) AJ was a massive A-side and one judge had him ahead on points at the time of the stoppage. I also believe that Hearn could have made the Fury fight between Wilder 1 and 2 but he was unwilling to offer 50-50.

When you're fighting at home and/or as the A-side it's very hard to lose to non-punchers provided you don't have serious issues with your chin, gas tank or defence. Thus AJ only faced three opponents that should have been at all dangerous pre-Usyk: 41 year old inactive defeated Wlad, 39 year old Povetkin and 27.5 year old green Whyte. Parker, Ruiz, Pulev and Takam should have all been complete no-hopers, which makes his loss to Ruiz an exposure and adds credence to the view that he was a protected vulnerable champion.

 

Well, Joshua could've gotten both if he didn't lose to the unranked Ruiz and the 10th-rated Usyk in bouts he took before he was supposed to fight both of them.

Wilder-Joshua's teams were negotiating after Wilder knocked out Breazeale in 2019 and Joshua was preparing for Ruiz. Fury and Joshua were expected to fight next after Joshua-Usyk and Fury-Wilder III. The orgs were all willing to let both unifications go ahead.

But Joshua lost both times.

If he won both, there was nothing stopping either meeting.

After all, the unifications didn't happen because Wilder and Fury lost their fights and Joshua won his.

 

People can and do criticize "the bodybuilder" for a lot, but willingness to face solid opposition, especially compared to his peers atop the HW landscape - yeah, can't do that. If he's a ducker then every other belt holder recently is a mega-ducker.

 

He was willing to fight anyone. Then just before he was supposed to fight them, he lost his titles and decided to go with exercising his rematch clauses.

That's why both fights didn't happen.

Nothing was blocking a Wilder-Joshua unification if Joshua beat Ruiz in their NY fight. Talks had begun. The orgs were on board. Nothing was blocking a Fury-Joshua unification if Joshua beat Usyk.

But Joshua lost both. That's why they didn't happen.

You can't say it's not Joshua's fault they didn't happen, because it IS his fault. He LOST two fights he should've won. Then he opted for rematches.

John Tate may have been willing to defend his title against Muhammad Ali in 1980, but when he lost to Weaver, it was off.

 

Right, The criticism comes when every time he's supposed to have a big fight, and he loses to a big underdog the fight before the big matchup. Then he's stuck exercising rematch clauses and rematching people he should've beaten the first time.

 

this ^

How the heck are people forgetting Wilder was the one who turned down the 100mill. AJ and Fury were set to scrap before Wilder got in w/ his lawsuit as well.

 

Imagine turning down 100 mill! That, to me, says enough about the confidence level DW had to face AJ.