The smallest past fighters you'd favor over Anthony Joshua?

Johnny Ruiz?

 

Not all of them do that though.

 

No they don't ,but a sizable few do!

 

Spinks. I could see him beat Joshua similar to Cooney, just a longer fight.. The right hand slowly chipping away at Joshua's rather unpredictable chin.

 

Let us see his career finish first.

 

The key is foot speed and head movement.....a few smart fighters come to mind.....Dempsey was lightening fast and hit hard....so any fighter that can out speed the angles on Joshua and keep their head moving can cause him trouble.....if the fighter is average foot speed and average hand speed Joshua beats and stops.....when it comes to all around ability Joshua is very good but his weakness is he is a giant of a man and as fast as he is foot speed with good angles can keep him a half step behind and vulnerable......but IMO Dempsey is as light as I go

 

AJ doesn't have a single performance to show convincingly that he would beat Marciano.

 

Marciano is a damn light heavyweight even mr glass chin bodybuilder would crucify him

 

This. Joshua has limited aresenal and an almost nonexistent inside game, which just isn’t going to cut it with Marciano. Not to mention Joshua’s body is wide open.

I expect Joshua to keep improving, since he’s still green, but for now Marciano would badly hurt him.

 

Or vice versa

 

True.

But my post was in response to:

I'm a fan of AJ but my faith in his head-to-head abilities has ben shaken by his two losses.

When Ruiz stopped him, I correctly predicted that he would easily avenge the loss just as Lennox did with Rahman.

But this second loss was different...he was outboxed and was unable to make the necessary adjustments as the fight wore on.

I think his chin has proven too be somewhat unreliable and I expect a more cautious AJ going forward. And if that proves to be the case, AJ doesn't have sufficient other weapons in his arsenal to be guaranteed wins against determined mentally tough opponents with KO power.

Marciano was mentally tougher...He overcame serious adversity in the first Walcott and second Charles fights.

It's true that, as you point out, Marciano doesn't have a win that shows convincingly that he would beat AJ, but he doesn't have the losses either.


I would pick Lennox and Vitaly to both beat Rocky, and until a couple of years ago, I would have picked AJ as well.

As of now, I'd say Sept 1954 Marciano v Sept 2021 AJ is a 50 -50.


If I was forced to bet, I'd probably lean towards Marciano.

 

The smallest guy I can think of who would have a shot is Roy Jones from the Ruiz fight.

 

There were a lot of excellent fighters in the past that would take decisions off Joshua simply due to his inexperience and rawness. Joshua isn’t used to fighting mobile opponents that are hard to land on or who can neutralize his size.

With Joshua’s current experience and what he’s shown I’d favor guys like Jimmy Bivins, Arturo Godoy, Harold Johnson, Tommy Loughran, Archie Moore, Bob Satterfield, Marvis Frazier, etc.. over Him. But, If Joshua goes on to have a long career with 50+ fights like Wlad did he’s likely to improve by leaps and bounds.

 

NFW

 

I'd honestly pick Roy Jones and James Toney to both beat Joshua after what we've seen vs Ruiz and Usyk