When was the last time you saw someone recover like AJ did?

Yeah I rewatched the fight this morning and in that 5th when he got up I just thought what heart he was showing, he's 41, been in a similar position before when he was stopped and he just dragged himself up off the floor and went for Joshua and hurt him even worse than he had been hurt. That for me was the epitome of a champions spirit. Both men went through hell and back in this fight, both deserve massive credit.

 

He hits plenty hard enough I think. Not as hard as Wlad or Lewis but harder than Vitali and he's one of the hardest punchers at heavyweight right now along with Wlad, Wilder, Haye and Ortiz. And other than Parker and perhaps Ortiz I don't think the other top guys have particularly great chins, I mean Fury would still be unconscious from that uppercut, cruiserweights have dropped him and Wilder makes Fury look like Oliver McCall.

But yeah it was remarkable he took that uppercut, his arms and legs went everywhere after that shot landed, I don't get how he didn't go down it looked like he was gone for a second but then it all just came back together and he was still upright when it looked like he was going to collapse. I just think will and desire kept him up, his instincts were just to keep fighting and so his body refused to go down.

 

He did well to stay up but all it did was give him a couple of extra brain injuries...

 

Buster went down in the 8th round.

 

Olympic Gold medalist vs. a great but 41 year old who'd been out for 18 months. Class performance but don't make out he was a novice or underdog.

 

Well , we saw it twice that night so...

 

Brewster recovered pretty well like that when he went down against Wlad. Brewster did not ever have the defense to work his way out of trouble, he had to slug his way out of trouble.

But Joshua got by on defense and holding those hands up nicely, even though hurt. And Wlad was lining him up for a homerun shot and Joshua did not fall for those feints. He was badly hurt like that--almost as bad--in the Whyte bout and had to take a few rounds off to recover. And trying to recover against Klitschko is no easy task in there.

I think his ability to ride the storm out against Whyte benefitted him a ton in last night's fight. And keeping those hands up and not falling for feints shows his concentration was still there.

Anyone else amazed he got up from that Wladimir right hand like that? I thought when he went to get up--if he could--he'd wobble all over the place and the ref would step in to end things. He got up from that right hand about like Mercer did many years ago. Sure was surprising to me.

 

It was 50/50 imo but come on there were so many question marks against him, against both of them going into this. I think people including myself forgot how good Wlad actually was

 

Joshua is lucky he is so tall, long and powerful, it's hard to hit him if he leans back and dangerous. So he can recover because of that. Still awesome recover ability from him though.

 

One word....okay two
FKN AMAZING

 

AJ recovered well, but equally Wlad did let him off the hook.

Wlad did not go for the kill after the knock down in the 6th- and he was again cautious in the 7th.

His brother Vitali had the killer instinct, that Wlad lacked. When you are in against another fighter with a similar level to yourself, not having that killer instinct can determine the result.

We also remember when Wlad punched himself out going for the KO against Lamon Brewster and lost...I think this plays on his mind when he has an opponent hurt.

 

AJ recovered but it wasn't a fast recovery. Lot had to do with Wlad unable to pull the trigger and finish the job. AJ has sailor legs for a couple minutes.
Holmes shavers and Douglas Tyson those were great recoveries.
No disrespect to AJ who showed a ton of heart to get up and survive.

 

I also ha e to say that Wlad did not turn old overnight as that was his best performance in years. How the FK he stayed up right after that brutal uppercut was mind blowing as well.

Much respect to both guys for putting pro boxing back to the days of the best taken on the best. No diva BS, no A side B side BS just doing what is good for the sport.

 

Novices don't have Olympic medals and heavyweight titles, dumbass.

 

Juan Urango had a ridiculous comeback against Randall Bailey.