Was AJ rushed too fast in his career?

I don't agree with that. Initially before he fought Martin you could argue he was perhaps being rushed to win an easy title but the way he beat Martin, then beat Wlad and then Parker, it's pretty clear he belonged at that level and holding him back would of just probably seen him plateau or even regress if he was held back too long, just look at what happened to Hrgovic.

I also don't think he's fallen off a cliff, Usyk is just way better than anyone else he's fought.

 

No he has simply lost to better fighters,this does happen in boxing you know . Joshua was an Olympic Champion and pro nearly 6 year before his first loss to Ruiz.Like other fighters before him coming off losses he will have to regroup and try again .

 

Anyone who made it to the pinnacle of boxing by becoming the heavyweight champion of the world was not rushed too quickly.

 

Yes his chance at the title did arrive sooner than likely planned, but hey you take your chances when they are presented to you.

AJ did learn on the job even after he got the title, but dam see the millions upon millions he has banked during his time as champ, that is a well paid education.

 

This, add in the fact that he was a late starter

 

Yes he did get knocked by a fat boy which he should have got out of there, but his only other 2 losses were both to current PFP #1 (or v close) certainly the best active heavy at least. He does have some decent wins like Parker, ancient Klitschko, Whyte etc. I don't think he's finished but he's not going to have a flawless record either. He probably loses to Fury and gets caught by Wilder too if he took those, should stick to being a money fighter maybe

 

Big Joshie fans are very sad.

Charles Martin was top competition? He won a belt (vultured away from Fury by Main Events) because the other guy tore his knee. Neither should have even fought for it.
Ruiz was top competition? He was a late fill-in when the even fatter non-top guy wasn't available. Has anybody actually seen Ruiz's fight resume?
The elite fighters who were more experienced than AJ before Usyk (Wlad, Povetkin, Pulev) were either over 40 or almost 40! Meaning they were compromised. Pulev just had Covid!

Joshua has been the most carefully managed fighter in boxing. People would say Wilder, but although he's been carefully managed too, facing Ortiz again after being badly hurt the first time and Fury the third time after being badly beat up is riskier than anything AJ has done.

 

Leon Spinks?

 

No. He is compared to great fighters, and bar is high.

If you compare to Wilders resume, than YES.

Look at who Wilder fought at his 15th fight, and look at AJ.

 

Good Point!

 

No. He pretty lived and breathed in those olympic funded gyms. He had plenty of time to train and develop.

 

They didn't have much choice since he only started boxing last week.

 

Nah, it's rubbish from a whiny AJ fanboy.

Retrospectively AJ was rushed to Wlad but you have to put it in context. Wlad was a wide underdog because he was 41, 17 months inactive, winless in 2 years, KO-less in 2.5 years, in Britain as the B-side. People thought Wlad was done because "even that fat gypo Tyson Fury had schooled him in his backyard and he's no Anthony Joshua".

Aside from that AJ was not rushed at all. By the time he fought Ruiz he had a wealth of experience against Whyte, Wlad, Takam, Parker and Povetkin, as well as his elite amateur and sparring experience, almost 12 years in boxing and 17 filler pro fights. He was a 29/30 year old world champion with 6 consecutive defences! No one can argue that he didn't have the experience to beat a slug like Ruiz, he'd already beaten better opponents and had three pro wars. He lost to Ruiz and Usyk x2 because they were just better than him on the night and Usyk would be better than AJ pretty much every time.

 

No.If he had vacated the WBO belt everything would be fine for him