Joshua haters: who should the man have fought?

AJ fans like to gloss over or discredit the highly skilled undefeated southpaw power puncher Ortiz for two reasons:

1. He's Wilder's best win
2. AJ/Hearn blatantly ducked him in 2016/17 as the unknown Ortiz probably would have starched AJ back then

 

No, the talks were underway after the Wilder-Breazeale fight. That's one reason why Joshua was supposedly "nervous" about fighting Ruiz. It's the only reason that fight was fought in the U.S. To introduce the US public to Joshua before Wilder-Joshua.

 

Wrong. It's because Ortiz has done very little as a HW himself. I'm a big fan of King Kong, but you have to be genuine when looking at his record. It's nothing to worry about.

 

Ortiz was ranked above Whyte, Martin, Breazeale, Molina, Takam, Ruiz, Pulev and Usyk when Joshua signed to fight all of them.

 

That was a TV deal with DAZN. He went with Fox Sports and ESPN.

Anthony Joshua isn't DAZN.

Nobdy Joshua fought has a contract with DAZN.

 

Link to Wilder saying "I will not fight Joshua under any circumstances" or words to that effect.

Wilder didn't have to give Fury a rematch. Logically Fury was always going to be better in the rematch and Wilder only scraped a draw first time round. But he gave Fury (the No.1 ranked HW after AJ lost to Ruiz) a voluntary shot, while AJ had to be forced into the Usyk fight after Hearn did all he could to avoid this genuinely dangerous mandatory challenger (even threatening to vacate a belt if there was a chance the fight could go to purse bids and end up in Ukraine).

 

I haven't had a good debate in a while. You should suffice. Now then

I disagree, Joshua/Wilder were in talks before Wilder was officially scheduled to fight Breazeale on showtime and the 100 million dollar DAZN deal was offered to him a couple months before the fight actually happened. He could have gotten the Breazeale fight included in the Dazn deal for more money but turned down the offer.

 

The answer to the questions posed in the original post are Joshua could've fought better opponents.

Luis Ortiz was rated above everyone Joshua fought before his reign and above just about everyone he faced during his two reigns.

And Joshua could've fought Wilder and Fury ... but just before big unification fights with each ... Joshua lost to big underdogs ... lost his titles ... and opted to exercise his rematch clauses.

Not LOSING to Andy Ruiz and Oleksandr Usyk ... and instead fighting Fury, Wilder in unifications ... and even defending against Ortiz ... would've been better than fighting basically everyone else he faced.

 

You're wrong in thinking he's disliked for who he fought, mostly he fought who he could.

He's disliked due to the tremendously fake humble personality, and his poor decision making in the past, such as falling in love with his muscles and becoming less fluid as a result. He is disliked for ignoring his own skillset by trading inside against a man with T-rex arms. (Ruiz jr) and then trying to outbox a master boxer in Usyk. These self inflicted wounds have hurt his credibility. He's disliked because he was gifted a gold medal he didn't earn. He's disliked because he fells like a corporate brand shoved in our faces.

 

Ortiz in 2016/17
Wilder in 2018
Usyk in 2019
Fury in 2020

In reality this would have been impossible though as AJ would have lost sooner or later, probably sooner and then probably lost the rematch. Hence the need to manage him carefully.

 

Luiz Ortiz ducked AJ. Remember?

 

Disagree about what?

Wilder had to fight Breazeale (according to the WBC). So he did.

It doesn't matter which channel Wilder fought Breazeale on ... DAZN, Showtime, Fox, ESPN ... Joshua LOST a few weeks later to late sub Ruiz.

That's why the unification with Joshua didn't take place. Joshua didn't have any titles to unify.

Wilder had to fight Breazeale (per the WBC). Wilder had a contract with Fury and had to give him a rematch. Fury wanted another fight first (fought Wallin). Wilder had a window to fight Joshua after Breazeale and before Fury II.

Finkel and Hearn were negotiating ... Joshua came to the US to build his profile here before the Wilder unification ... and JOSHUA LOST.

So there was no unification.

Joshua exercised his rematch clause with Ruiz. Wilder moved on and took a tuneup with Ortiz before the Fury rematch.

By the time Joshua regained his belts, Wilder was on his way to losing his to Fury in their return.

Then Joshua and Fury had to both get their mandatory fights out of the way (Usyk and Wilder III) before they could unify ... and Fury won and Joshua LOST AGAIN.

Now Joshua has exercised a rematch clause again ... while Fury moves on (like Wilder did) to face Whyte.

That's why the Joshua-Wilder and Joshua-Fury unifications didn't happen.

Joshua LOST all his belts right before they were supposed to happen.

TV deals didn't stop either. Joshua losing STOPPED both from happening.