Rank the performances of the heavyweights August twelfth at O2

The quad-header was:

1. John Fisher vs. Harry Armstrong, 10 rounds @ heavyweight
2. Derek Chisora vs. Gerald Marcus Washington, 10 rounds @ heavyweight
3. Filip Hrgović vs. Demsey McKean, 12 rounds @ heavyweight
   
4. Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua vs. Robert Gabriel Helenius, 12 rounds @ heavyweight

Both geezers in the co-main event saw their stock plummet. Winded and inaccurate from early on. Chisora with tanking pressure but couldn't lay hands on Washington consistently enough - and Washington had wide open counters begging to be thrown and was like a toddler pinning a tail on a paper donkey.

Hrgović and McKean saw opposite trajectories and met in the middle. What had been meant to be a huge mismatch became close as McKean proved a little better than expected and Hrgović shat the bed. The former held too much and the latter threw a shocking abundance of unpenalized rabbit punches. Both had very poor stamina, but not quite as bad as Chisora or Washington.

Armstrong came in atrocious physical condition, but did show a bit of boxing skill. What he didn't show was a lick of power, nor ultimately punch resistance. Maybe moves a few points up from the massive underdog the bookies pegged him as, but still not anybody who's going to ever make a dent in the division. Fisher is a raw banger, knowing only how to "bosh", and we knew that already, so his stock stands still?

Then we have the main event. Helenius on five days notice lasted several rounds longer than most predicted, and earned the respect of Joshua himself, landing some hard shots and proving tricky enough that AJ couldn't find a clear path for the right hand until the 7th. Stock up, considering some of the histrionics about how bottom-of-the-barrel an opponent choice he was and doomed to an inevitable KO1.

And then Joshua...he's the most difficult to evaluate and peg with an up or down arrow. He scored an outstanding single punch knockout, but this was preceded by seeming to be at something of a loss for what to do for the lion's share of the first half of the contest. He also got tagged a fair amount by the heavy-hitting but slow Finn. So is our main takeaway his early struggles, or the fact that he buckled down and gradually solved the puzzle, with a highlight reel finish? I guess that depends on how positive or negative a preconceived view of AJ you have.

Copy and paste this format in your response:

1. Heavyweight #1 (best performance and/or most improved stature)
2. Heavyweight #2
3. Heavyweight #3
4. Heavyweight #4
5. Heavyweight #5
   
6. Heavyweight #6
   
7. Heavyweight #7
   
8. Heavyweight #8 (worst performance and/or most denigrated stature)

 

Chisora, Washington, Armstrong, Hrgović and McKean are the clear bottom five, IMO.

(Harry and Demsey may have done a tad better than some gave them credit for heading, but neither reinvented the wheel or established themselves as h2h threats, and ultimately both lost to not particularly great versions of their opponent. Chizz, Wash, and Hrg all put in shameful performances for longtime ranked contenders and the former two should probably call it a day - as too should the younger Hrgović if he takes boxing as unseriously as yesterday demonstrated)

Sorting the remainder - Joshua, Helenius and Fisher - has me stumped. There are reasons for sorting them in any iteration.

 

Helenius looked far better than anyone thought, or than anyone ought to at his age on short notice less than a week after having fought essentially a local tuneup - but end of the day, he did get KTFO.

Joshua made on the fly adjustments, figured Helenius out, and iced him - but it took him embarrassingly long to get there and he ate shots that from somebody like Wilder may have taken him out.

Fisher... was Fisher. Got power, that's about it.

For every reason you might put somebody at #1, there are counterpoints.