Will AJ ever get his respect?

There is no contradiction in keeping patient and setting up openings with feints. Rather the opposite.

 

Yes. Despite he is one dimensional almost single handed.
He is not enough old like 41 y.o Wlad, does have considerably more power than 39 y.o Pulev and looks that might move in the ring faster than Pulev too.
He is able to move in the ring considerably faster than Ruiz and does have significantly better reach too.

A.J defeated Ruiz just on points because was capable to exploit weaknesses Ruiz does have.
Short reach and leg lazy.
When he had attempted to finish Ruiz in first fight, he get finished by Ruiz. Ruiz does have short but heavy and fast hands.
Then he looks that turned to study Ruiz vs Parker fight in New Zealand and had also improved.

 

He's already got his respect from me. I was a big critic of his when he first came on the scene. I thought he was a manufactured hypejob that was gifted a gold medal and fasttracked to greatness, but his last few fights have slowly dissuaded me of that idea. I still find him quite manufactured in certain senses, but he's an intelligent guy who knows how to make the adjustments to improve, and is a much better fighter now than he was a few years ago as a result, way less robotic and upright, much more intelligent with his jab and lead hand in general.

I thought his performance against Pulev last night was solid. Tentative? Mmm, a bit perhaps, but you don't dominate a fight by fighting scared, which is the implication I see a lot of people making here. I saw the middle rounds as Joshua trying to get some of the ring rust off and practice his jab game, which led to some dull rounds and a couple of shaky moments where Joshua tried to tie up Pulev and looked a little Wlad-esque. It's something he needs to work on. Joshua isn't really that great at smoothly transitioning between styles. He's either in seek and destroy mode, or jab n grab mode, or feint n counter mode. He needs to work to synergise his style a bit more, or else perfect one style down pat like Wlad did.

 

People on this forum just love to hate AJ, even if he beats Fury they'll come up with some reason he isn't a good HW.

He's beaten the fighters put in front of him, including avenging a loss. He has the best resume in the division.

Joshua's clear weakness was when he gets hot-headed he can get clipped and he gasses. He's making sure he doesn't make that mistake, and he's still dispatching of his opponents, getting behind the jab he apparently never had. But people will now just say he is slow and boring.

It was a controlled and clinical win over Pulev with no risks taken. Last thing he'd have needed was a hiccup before a potential Fury fight.

He won't win these people over but his wins will prove how good he is. The Fury fight is the only one to make now.

I fancy Fury to win but AJ has improved massively from 2 years ago. Post Wlad Fury would have beaten that AJ comfortably, I think it's closer now, especially if Fury intends to trade to prove his power. Don't be surprised if you see that uppercut land and put Fury to sleep too.

Fury and AJ are clearly the best two at HW because they can both box behind a jab to win and can also turn it on when they need to.

What a fight we should have in 2021.

 

Respect in boxing is earned the hard way

it's earned the hardest way possible

It's earned through blood, guts and most importantly courage.

Some men go their entire career without getting respect

Some men go an entire career without receiving any love from any fans

It's a cold, dark, hard, lonely and nefarious sport.

You'll see why if Fury AJ gets made. An entire stadium which would normally be cheering AJ on, booing him. Imagine it. Then mentally he folds up. Fury takes him apart. What was it all for? an entire career to get beat like this? AJ should hold his head high, but it's a brutal storyline.

 

Joshua gets loads of respect.
He's just not as good as the hype that has been around him.
He has proved himself as much more than a hype job though, and he won a couple of fights I thought he would lose.
But still, he's an average-to-good heavyweight belt holder, a good formidable heavyweight, rather than a superlative champion or an ATG in the making.

 

Joshua already gets plenty of respect. He has more good wins under his belt than Fury.

Joshua: Klitschko, Pulev, Povetkin, Whyte, Parker

Fury: Klitschko, Chisora, Wilder

Joshua is hugely popular, and is treated like a god by casual fans and most hardcore fans too.

If Joshua beats Fury next year, he will get a bit more respect, but everyone always has people that dislike them, and they usually shout the loudest.

 

I personally will wait on that judgement until his career is over, or at the least just simmering out.

If he beats Fury and then cleans out the rest, he will have a good case as a great for me. Just pure numbers suggest that he'll never come close to Louis and Ali, but beating Fury convincingly and having a good reign after that will go a long way to a top 5 place.

Not saying that will happen, but it's not out of the realms of possibility.

 

I have no respect for men who get false confidence and called out Fury in 2017 when he was 400 pounds like Wilder and AJ

Pair of bums living in Fury's era. They are merely stepping stones on Fury's unblemished record of dominance.

 

No more along the lines of Lennox Lewis.

 

Was a better performance than Ruiz2 but that shouldn't have been hard to accomplish given Pulev is less a threat. Is still the #2 guy so until he's king I will reserve the respect.

 

Not until he beats Fury. Until then he's #2. Fury released the gates of hell on the most powerful heavyweight in the division while Aj was kinda gunshy with a past prime Pulev.

Its clear he's still fighting those demons from the Andy Ruiz beatdown. And if that loss prevents him from summing up the courage to walk Fury down, he will NEVER beat Tyson Fury. And i fear he will become the next Wladimir Klitschko. Wlad used to fight somewhat like Joshua until his chin was exposed. Perhaps history will repeat itself.

Or perhaps we're all wrong, and Joshua is planning on taking the fight to Fury. I hope thats the case

 

He has the chance to be respected. He is a boxer so he will get respect by boxing and beating Fury and Wilder and other guys.