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Thoughts on Joshua's place in HISTORY

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    Thoughts on Joshua's place in HISTORY

    The comeback opponent selected to (hopefully) launch the comeback of former multiple beltholder Anthony Joshua has spoken out regarding his next adversary's place in HISTORY. Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs), who will be facing Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) on April 1st at the O2 Arena in London on DAZN, sees it as strange that AJ didn’t fight Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury, despite those being two obvious matches that should have been made by this point in his 10-year professional career.

    I suppose I agree.
    With Joshua's title opponents having collectively dropped a whopping 18 fights since Joshua defeated them, and Wilder and Fury having lost None outside of when stepping up against each other in that same span of time, we've certainly come a long way since the days when folks said that AJ had fought the "best opponents" of the three.
    My guess is that no sooner than when Tyson Fury unifies the belts by crushing Oleksandr Usyk, the Los Banditos companies will fragment that title again, as sanctioning fees by shared rotation won't keep the cash register ringing.
    Once that happens, Eddie ought to be able to snag his charge a title belt or two as Wilder, Fury, Joyce and Usyk all age out. But having blown or sidestepped a chance to face the best of the post-2015 era, won't that be a hollow prize!

    Thoughts?​

    #2
    Originally posted by Willow The Wisp View Post
    The comeback opponent selected to (hopefully) launch the comeback of former multiple beltholder Anthony Joshua has spoken out regarding his next adversary's place in HISTORY. Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs), who will be facing Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) on April 1st at the O2 Arena in London on DAZN, sees it as strange that AJ didn’t fight Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury, despite those being two obvious matches that should have been made by this point in his 10-year professional career.

    I suppose I agree.
    With Joshua's title opponents having collectively dropped a whopping 18 fights since Joshua defeated them, and Wilder and Fury having lost None outside of when stepping up against each other in that same span of time, we've certainly come a long way since the days when folks said that AJ had fought the "best opponents" of the three.
    My guess is that no sooner than when Tyson Fury unifies the belts by crushing Oleksandr Usyk, the Los Banditos companies will fragment that title again, as sanctioning fees by shared rotation won't keep the cash register ringing.
    Once that happens, Eddie ought to be able to snag his charge a title belt or two as Wilder, Fury, Joyce and Usyk all age out. But having blown or sidestepped a chance to face the best of the post-2015 era, won't that be a hollow prize!

    Thoughts?​
    AJ's standing has the potential to raise dramatically or plummet just as alarmingly.Bottom line you cannot accurately assess a fighters place in pugilistic history until he retires.
    Last edited by Ivich; 02-09-2023, 12:12 PM.

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      #3
      What if the AJ flattens Fury tomorrow then all that predicting stuff was for naught.

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        #4
        Originally posted by Willie Pep 229 View Post
        What if the AJ flattens Fury tomorrow then all that predicting stuff was for naught.
        If that were to happen the tides would turn and Fury's shock would drop. Would certainly be interesting.

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          #5
          Originally posted by JAB5239 View Post

          If that were to happen the tides would turn and Fury's shock would drop. Would certainly be interesting.
          Surely.

          Fury's resume is so thin that one devastating loss doesn't just drop him in the rankings, it sends him into historical oblivion.
          Ivich Ivich likes this.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Willie Pep 229 View Post

            Surely.

            Fury's resume is so thin that one devastating loss doesn't just drop him in the rankings, it sends him into historical oblivion.
            I agree. I put him with Vits. Excellent fighter, but pretty weak resume.

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              #7
              Originally posted by JAB5239 View Post

              I agree. I put him with Vits. Excellent fighter, but pretty weak resume.
              It reminds me of Pete Mader, at one time people thought he was the best around. One blow out later and 100 years and only geeks like us remember who he was.

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                #8
                Originally posted by Willie Pep 229 View Post

                Surely.

                Fury's resume is so thin that one devastating loss doesn't just drop him in the rankings, it sends him into historical oblivion.
                Well, in the extreme perhaps. That might be what some people might wish to happen, but in truth neither the devistating loss comming soon or being jettisoned from memory are very likely, especially the latter. Both Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko suffered multiple KO losses that were all just as ignominious as it gets; but history has been kind to both in spite of those. To date, Fury has always gotten back up. You could argue that in total, both guys did more to endear themselves than the "Gypsy King" in counterbalance of their stains, but man, Lewis and Klitschko sure had their detractors too, especially while they were active!

                Certainly a devastating loss would be an unforseen twist in the projected history plot for any of the top guns. Plenty of those can happen before this generation's members pack it in. As it stands at the moment, however; Lennox Lewis 2000-2003 at 6-1, Vitali Klitschko 2000-2012 at 19-2, Wladimir Klitschko 2000-2017 at 33-4, Tyson Fury 2009-2023 at 33-0-1, Deontay Wilder 2009-2023 at 43-2-1, Anthony Joshua 2013-2023 at 24-3 and Oleksandr Usyk 2013-2023 at 20-0 seem to represent the blue chip heavyweights of the 21st Century, with respect to Povetkin, Pulev, Whyte, Chagaev, Haye, Byrd, Sanders, Parker, Joyce, Ruiz Jr, Valuev, Tua and the rest.
                Of those baptised in this century Fury is unquestionably the best in light of his taking the titles off of Wladimir, winning 2.5 of 3 against the brutal Wilder and smashing up qualified Dillian Whyte as few predicted he would leading up to the fight. He gets little points for resume depth as an accolade, but that shortcoming is well burried under the other stuff, and; should Wilder snuff out Andy Ruiz Jr as many believe he will, and Fury imposes himself on Usyk as I believe he will; we'll have a rock solid 1-2-the others pecking order for heavyweights who's debut came following the turn of the millennium.
                That's how it is.​
                Ivich Ivich likes this.

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                  #9
                  We live in an era where fans and sportswriters are quick to proclaim fighters as ATGs or at least measure them favorable against the ATGs, when they are largely untested and often have less than 20 - 30 fights. If AJ can beat either Fury or Wilder he is back on top. If he loses to either one of them he'll be reduced to gatekeeper status. It's such a fickle time to be a boxing fan.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by GhostofDempsey View Post
                    We live in an era where fans and sportswriters are quick to proclaim fighters as ATGs or at least measure them favorable against the ATGs, when they are largely untested and often have less than 20 - 30 fights. If AJ can beat either Fury or Wilder he is back on top. If he loses to either one of them he'll be reduced to gatekeeper status. It's such a fickle time to be a boxing fan.
                    Agree but I would argue it has always been a fickle time to be a boxing fan. We and sport writers are acting no different than we/they did 100 years ago.

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