https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/45503456 Interesting little tidbit here from Joshua. I see his point, but when you've made everyone look like a bum, its kinda his own fault. It just shows how weak the division as a whole is. This camp has been rather sombre so far on Joshua's side, which is probably a good thing as it means he is being zealous and looking with extreme forethought.
How has he made everyone else look like a bum? He has fought contender Whyte as a contender himself and got rocked hard. Whyte has only gotten better since. He nearly got knocked out by Klitschko. He failed to put away contender level Takam, and Parker had him in safety first mode the entire fight where he didn't exactly win each round by a landslide. Other than that he has yet to fight the other top fighters in the division.
Joshua is facing the best competition and this next fight is proof of that. I'm surprised Bunce is asking him such an inane question. Who cares what the trolls think? I can't disrespect Wilder now that's he's got the W over Ortiz but his resume pales in comparison to Joshua's. Joshua's pattern is to keep on facing the best. If he doesn't face Wilder next then he'll get Miller or Pulev or Whyte II.
Povetkin isn't the best competition, he almost got sparked out by David Price. If he were fighting price would you be saying Aj is fighting the best? What about Takam, was he the best? Or how about Charles Martin was he the best?
The money a fighter earns for facing Joshua far exceeds any other fight, which makes boxers prioritise an AJ fight and stop taking risks in the meantime. So having a financial colossus in the division does have a certain chilling effect. Best thing that could happen would be once the titles are unified that the champion relinquishes some or most of them, spreading the belts around to encourage more top level guys to face each other.
I see it the other way around, it the champion is in there vs a shop worn Takam, or a gun shy Parker, he needs to take them out in style, not have boring fights, and then say the division is weak as if he had nothing to do with it. Povektin might pull off the upset, but take note Joshua waited for him to be age 39 to make the fight! Why not make this fight in 2016, instead of facing Martin, Breazeale, and Molina? These three were jokes. Okay a new champion can take an easy fight, just not three in a row please. Joshua, if he wanted it can choose between Fury, Wilder, or Whyte. Whyte deserves a rematch. Usyk looms in the future. Hopefully Joshua won't be picking duds for title fights, because outside of Wlad who was 41 and out of the ring for 1.5 years, he has. And if he does pick a dud, please give us some effort to make it more enjoyable.
Lets say AJ beat Wilder. He's then the WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF, IBO, Ring and Lineal undisputed HW champion of the world. Great. Who does he fight? If he keeps the belts he's stuck in mandatory limbo, juggling whoever has either won or paid their way to get to the top of respective rankings. That's going to mean a lot of brown envelopes to keep various sanctioning bodies sweet as you try and schedule fights. Then how do you sell those fights? Far better to drop a couple of belts when demands inevitably clash. AJ remains the undisputed 'man' in the division, but now there's titles for others to fight over and generate more interest in them as they do so. AJ can then fight more unification bouts which will be of extra interest to broadcasters.
If there's only one champion there is no place to hide from him. The only reason these guys can avoid each other is they have other options. Prior to Fury being striped Joshua didn't have the option of fighting Martin or Glaz for a title. All of a sudden Martin and Glazkov are fighting for a vacant title neither one of them deserved giving Joshua an option for an easy title. No Wilder, no Fury, no Wlad needed. Had things continued the way they were Joshua would have fought Takam for a title eliminator and built his career a little more traditionally. Fury being a crackhead gave Martin, Glazkov, Ruiz Jr, Parker, and Joshua opportunities they didn't have before. The opportunity to become champion without having to face anyone already considered best. Seems like the spread is what caused the ability to avoid in the first place. Hell, Bermane, Chris, and Deontay can join that list too. Those mother****ers should have fought Wlad and would have fought Wlad had Wlad been the only champion. Either they'd've fought him or not been champion. That's why Fury gets so much respect. The only man to beat the man in the past decade is Tyson Fury. Everyone else played avoid and build career bull**** causing them all to have a resume, none of which are worth a **** because all of them share the same brag in common. Not the best win, but close to it. Wilder's got Ortiz now, but it should be Joshua that makes his resume. Joshua has Wlad now but it should be Fury that makes his resume. Martin, Glaz, Bermane, Chris, Andy, and Joe should have never been title fights. All it's done is give these guys opportunities to be hypejobs who get whooped by the men we all already knew were the best while the best of them avoid each other claiming the other side is to blame while both sides continues to bring in not the best win, but close to it.
