Joshua should of been better than he was..

He is one of the most dedicated boxers of his generation. Always in great shape. Always trying to improve.
He was also very well supported by management, promotional and training teams. He was the flagship of Matchroom, his promoter, and with all the advantages that brings.
And he was a fan favourite who almost always fought in front of an adoring crowd of supporters cheering him on and willing him to be victorious.

There's nothing he "could have" done more than he did. He fulfilled his potential without much doubt at all.

I think people are still effected by the HYPE, there was a lot of hype, he was never as good as the hype made casual fans believe he was, and I think this have effected (or "infected") a fair number of knowledgeable boxing fans who should know better too.

 

Until 2019 he was excellent.

After the Ruiz disaster, he did enough to avenge it. Yes, the manner wasn't there, but what was he supposed to against a quicker, almost granite chinned opponent who thrived on exchanges ?
However, the mental scare never departed, and since the COVID, he kept being disappointing : fewer fights and inconstant level.

I'm sure that he could have won the rematch against Usyk if he had greater stamina.
To be honest, I thought the old Joshua was back in 2023, as he looked as good as ever against Wallin.

But, instead of sustaining that regular fighting schedule, Joshua choose to fight twice in 2024. First, a sideshow against Ngannou, which produced a terrific yet pointless KO.
Then came his worst performance ever, the Dubois debacle. Without taking anything away from Dubois, I still can't believe Joshua fought as amateurishly as he did.

I still think he had a good career but he could have done more.

 

AJ wasn't exactly Marvin Hagler in the ring. To me he always seemed like he'd rather be doing something else. Like he started to make big money and that was enough for him, boxing was just a means to an end and the end was financial security and not being a champion

 

Joshua was never the best HW in the world. He had a 50-50 fight he didn't fight during those two years.

 

Chisora who got flatlined by Whyte and Haye? No chance. AJ might be overrated, but Chisora is a Euro- level gatekeeper with over a dozen losses and has never truly performed on the same level as Joshua. The Wlad that AJ stopped would've beaten Chisora with ease.

 

Wlad was 41 and doesn't fight aggressively. Prime Chisora would grind aj down and level him

 

He should've gotten rid of Mckraken earlier cause that guy was terrible.

Also shouldn't have done the immediate rematch with Usyk especially when you switch to trainers

Should've built with Robert Garcia (or any other trainer) and done the Usyk fight a few fights later

It was always gonna be there because Joshua is the big money fight

Also he should've fought Wilder instead of Wallin on that card last year

He really missed out on an opportunity to enhance his legacy

Problem is he lacked confidence and needed another tune up

 

I Agree with this

I remember Eddie Hearn in an interview saying that Anthony Joshua would have a 10 year run similar to Wladimir Klitschko and that was never going to happen (and not just because of Usyk)

Anthony Joshua was never talented enough to be at that Wladimir Klitschko and Lennox Lewis level

Hof career who never got into drugs (at least to my knowledge) and lived the life

Most importantly he brought back relevancy to the heavyweight division

Does anyone think these big heavyweight fights happen with such big crowds and so much money from the Saudis if not for AJ?

Cause I don't

 

Who was the best heavyweight in 2017 and 2018 to you?

 

We had this conversation before. He was universally rated number 1 from April 2017 to June 2019. Wilder was considered a threat, sure, but nobody put him above AJ (except of his braindead haters and Wilder fanboys of course), especially looking at his poor resume.

 

Messed up his own career imo in terms of achievement anyway. At one point he looked like he could go all the way. I think that all changed not when ruiz beat him but when klitchko knocked him down.

He mentioned it quite a bit that he never wanted to be in that situation again.

His answer to that was focussing his attention from athletism to trying to be a master boxer. He lost his athletism a bit and never really had the tools to be a masterful boxer.

In the end was confused by all the knowledge he was trying to soak up and his athletism his biggest asset waned.

 

I still maintain that this was his best performance. He should have stuck with Robert Garcia as his trainer.

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What version of Chisora is prime? The one who got knocked out by Haye or the one who got knocked out by Whyte? Or the one who got battered every couple of years by Fury? Or the one who lost every round to Vitali? He's a solid fighter of this era, but he's a Euro-level gatekeeper at best. Any version of Chisora loses to Joshua in the same manner he lost to Haye.

 

I still think that was the best performance against Usyk in the HW division.

 

He was as good as he could possibly be given his metrics and ability. Sometimes guys aren't better than what we want to believe because where they peaked was their ceiling.

There was no more blood to squeeze from that turnip