Reminder: Usyk Started Boxing at 15, Joshua at 18

Joshua started at 18 years old + 43 amateur fights.

Usyk started at 15 years old + 350 amateur fights.

 

Not forgetting the all important heart and chin.

These two things you are born with for the most part.

 

Those were some tough damn farmers though.

 

Good boxers without a long amateur career usually started boxing very young :

- Canelo started at 13 years old
- Fury started at 10 years old

It's rare to perform while being a late starter with a short amateur career.

Also, when AJ won against Wladmir, his record was 19-0.

When Fury won against Wladimir, his record was 25-0.

So not only he's a late starter with a short amateur career, but he fought tough competition very fast.

 

Uysk is a few levels above AJ

 

It is quite surprising that Usyk didn't start earlier, 15 while not exactly late isn't young either when many top pros start younger. He's obviously a special fighter. All those fights would have given much needed experience and while he only had a 3 year advantage, he is also 3 years older so Usyk technically has 6 years more fighting experience than Joshua, though I doubt Joshua even with those 6 years experience would ever be able to beat Usyk based on their first fight. Usyk's boxing IQ is just on another level.

Not that Joshua is some dummy. He's always shown an ability to learn and grow as a fighter but he's always been playing catch up to guys like Uysk and Fury who clearly have a greater in depth knowledge of the craft of boxing. Joshua's tried to make up for it with his natural physical talents but skills and boxing acumen will always trump talent alone and Joshua has had Rob McCracken and Sean Murphy to train him as a pro and amateur while Usyk had a great trainer in Anatoly Lomachenko train him at times including for the 2012 Olympics.

Trainers make a difference. Imagine Lewis or Wlad without Steward. Joshua learned quickly at first as a pro, but in recent years even before the loss to Usyk his progression had nearly plateaued and I don't think McCracken has the knowledge of the more advanced techniques that guys like Usyk and Fury are using.

 

When you reach a certain level in boxing it does not matter when you started

If you started at 8 years old, 15 years old or the best of the latecomers, 21 years old.

All I see are excuses, AJ has said plenty of times "Fury got a head start" on him and he cries like a little B about it.

Yet if you do the math AJ has about the same amount of ring time as Fury. Fury couldn't get many bouts as an amateur because he was too young yet too big.


The biggest advantage at starting young is ability to deal with the mental pressures of fighting but still you have some of the best to ever do it throwing up before fights from nerves.

 

When you stsrt something those 3 years make a huge difference.

 

So they should all start at 21 years old since it doesn't matter, but they don't...

 

He's able to run the 100 meters at 11.53s :

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So indeed he is very athletic, but boxing is much more than raw athleticism...

 

exactly. if you are world ranked or world title holder it is stupid thing to dwell on.