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

Marciano could overcome the size between himself and Povetkin. I won't deny that. A world class 240 pound guy like Joshua is most likely a bridge too far imo

 

Midget Wolgast.

 

Agree with some of the points made earlier, Usyk is not some sort of bonafide natural 220 HW. He did lots of eating and strength training+natural age to get up to that weight. On average he was usually 207-215ish even after the weigh ins and rehydration. He's roughly Louis/Hoylfield size naturally.

With that being said, the aforementioned legends should be favored over the version of Joshua Usyk beat. As for fighters smaller than the 6'1-6'2 205-215 ballpark beating Joshua? Hard to say. Usyk, Louis, and Hoylfield are all phenomenally skilled well rounded boxers. They brought a lot to the table and faced a huge variety of opponents with tons of experience.

You can't just look at their physical dimensions and assume someone like Dempsey or Jefferies could pull it off when they had completely different styles and approaches compared to technicians like usyk or Louis. We would need to see someone whose both similar in size to Usyk AND has a different style. I don't count Ruiz because he was the size of a small black bear in terms of weight.

 

You think he is a great fighter?I 'd call him a good one.

 

Prime Povetkin would be 50/50 with AJ and the best modern sized heavy Marciano faced.

 

Not so sure he would though.

 

Marciano wouldn’t beat prime, juiced Povetkin.