Personally, I think it's a shame how Anthony Joshua's career ended or will end.

Hopefully he’s smart with his money and all the what ifs don’t matter to him.

he was a good big man with lots of potential all things considered. He was likable enough as a public figure, I think a lot of his negative reception is how closely tied his image is to his promoter and the business end of the sport. From a business end that gets people to watch your fights but inevitably gets people to see you as “fake” “corporate” or a “product.” And his image is a bit effected by the fact that his is a *little* nuts along with being fast track. Still he beat some good contenders, had a great fight with Wald and proved himself the man. I think his success was unfortunately his undoing. I think he’s developed a mental block over the years and honestly that put a halt on him. The Bruno comparison is common but I think it’s true, great talent but the fear. Hopefully he takes care of himself and has a great life, and who knows maybe he can bounce back professionally, he’s not that old, wouldn’t be the strangest thing. Anyway he entertained a lot of people for a while and you can’t ask more from an athlete.

 

Personally, I think he had a lot more potential than he showed us, but that is not really all that unusual. He had a couple really good wins, Wladimir Klitschko and the comeback win over Andy Ruiz. He really did not do that badly in the second fight against Oleksandr Usyk. I think, with the right mindset, he could have won that rematch...just my opinion. But he lost, to a very good fighter again, and that is what it is. I agree that his career is not over yet, especially if he does not want it to be. He is a Boxer-Puncher. I like Boxer-Punchers. He still could surprise us.

 

So do I,

but once again British 'big boy' Desperation (the always elusive World's HW Titles for the Home of Boxing), is the Fault here, the money men & they're cohort media HYPE & Capitalising Machine made him out this Boxing's Greatest Warrior type thing, had him on TV, in Shows, Talks and Reality type TV Expose' long before he was even there.

Like any young lad he swallowed it up and fell back from his own driving trajectory of aspiring to be World HW Champion...

Treated, Paid and Crowned as such long before you even get there would certainly allow one to 'put the feet up' a bit, so to speak.

THEY ruined him, just as the Hype & BS has ruined Boxing overall!

 

He's certainly flattened out. A win over Wilder or Fury would totally change his reputation tho. He needs to fight one of those two. He's beaten plenty of good contenders. He wasn't woeful vs Usyk. He'd possibly have more chance of utilizing his power against those two than Usyk.

 

A guy with limited talent who started late has made an absolute fortune, Olympic gold, beat some decent fighters, and is one of the most well known athletes in Britain. Yes the Ruiz loss was disastrous. The Usyk losses in the grand scheme of HW boxing are forgivable. A highly skilled well conditioned southpaw is very tough. IMO even though it’s fallen apart in and out the ring in the last few years, AJ has done well for himself

 

Mentally weak. He’s reached his apex and is on the downhill slide.

 

Hopefully he gets KO'd badly a number of times before retiring, then gets all the money thrown at him stolen by the agents and managers that secured everything. Some thug moments in public leading to further destruction of 'the brand' would also be good.
Kidnapped and held to ransom by nigerian rebels during a 'budiness man trip' would finish everything off rather nicely.

 

He was broken. He probably never lost when he put his heart and mind to something. The 1st Ruiz fight went from sugar to sh!t in the blink if an eye. He dug deep to get back up and carry on, gave great effort and still got beat down, something that probably never happened to him. I think when He exerted that type of effort, he triumphed. Not this time. That loss touched his inner strength. Dude can't come back from that.

 

I always thought he was over hyped, and overrated.

To me he was a Fernando Vargas, Ike Quartey, Hasim Rahman of today's boxing....

... he can beat most of the B level fighters, one or two A level fighters, but not talented or skilled enough to be the best.

 

I think the OP has the right idea.

However, AJs next one to two fights will go a long way to determine how his career end might look like. Enough of Franklin & past it Helenius tune up opponents. He needs to fight some big, established names. Everybody knows who they are at HW.

 

If he knocks out Wilder, that will do wonders for his legacy…

 

He was always overrated , now I think he may be underrated .
The biggest problem with him imo is that mentally he is broken and technically he regressed a lot. Anyway If fight with Wilder ever happens and he wins it his stock will bounce back to almost all time high , I know Fury will not fight him , but if he would , I’d give AJ very good chance to win it.
Usyk is undersized , but he’s way more skilled than overrated oafs like wilder and fury.
So it’s not like he lost to Otto Wallin.
Ruiz L is the worse , but he won the rematch.
So I think we need to see him fight more before we right him off completely.

 

Should have taken the 10% split and let Deontay keep the other 90% when the bomb squad offered it to him... now he will be knocked out violently next year, by the devastating bronze bomber. The 10% he gets, will be a mere fraction of what it would be worth now. Joshua will be punished for his greedy bodybuilder ways. This primadonna can go back to the gym, with Lex Luger, and pose with his mirrors.