Ike Ibeabuchi went to jail before he could really prove himself. Anthony Joshua is the brightest star in heavyweight boxing. He has shown amazing skills, but hasn't proven himself against the best yet. Who wins this fight and why.
I think AJ due to the height and reach, plus Ike was hittable. But if AJ's chin is glass, then he gets caught eventually.
I don't think AJ's very good. Just the best outta the current crop, which ain't saying much. I feel he's too stiff and robotic for Ike and would have gotten caught by something and put away. I don't think his chin is great.
Word. I can understand picking Ike but I don't see this nailed on certainty at all. I think Joshua is excellent but I worry he may never have the elite level competition to prove it.
Intriguing fight. Ibeabuchi is more proven, but AJ is a physical specimen. I think that Ike eventually catches him with a bomb, and wins by KO, but i would be far from confident in my pcik.
We really have to see more of Joshua's chin, stamima, resolve until we can gauge his chances but assuming those intangibles are average or better, I'd like his chances. He seems like the business to me
And ike fought a grand total of two guys who'd have had a prayer of seeing the second round vs AJ. Not much to found complete confidence on
Ibeabuchi has one solitary fight that everyone checks: David Tua. Tua was a much shorter in height, much shorter reached, less-athletic fighter that Joshua, who, has more in his arsenal than a left-hook. However, I don´t know how Joshua copes after reading the Fightbeat members´ sheer horror-inducing praise and Terminator-like ability that Ibeabuchi still gets ...I really don´t. ::
Ibeabuchi fought one of the dumbest fights in boxing history vs tua; and ironically, whatever legacy he has was basically built on him doing so since he answered all possible questions about his chin and toughness. But if you don't have the ability or good sense to outbox david f'n tua that does raise some other questions
Lennox lewis 3 years/18 fights into his pro career would be the reasonable comparison and not a particularly unflattering one for joshua. We'll see how things progress
I don't think he fought a stupid fight. I think Tua forced that kind of fight. He was relentless that night
Regarding Lennox Lewis. Obviously far more proven than Joshua is at this stage, so it's unfair to compare them, however while the reverse is also true....Joshua is very capable of being able to have knocked out a prime Lennox Lewis. Joshua hits very hard has a great offensive repertoire and is a good finisher. Plus he has the height and size to have been able to deliver the punches to Lennox. I'd pick Lewis without hestitation at this point but the point is Joshua has the ability to have accomplished that. Now, I'm a fan of ibeabuchi. I thought of him as the real deal. However Joshua so far looks like "da business". We'll see how he looks against Wlad. That's a real test for him.
ANy big guy who can punch has the capacity to Ko Lewis (or pretty much any HW). Doesn't means that it gave him a good chance of winning that fight. Current Joshua would have about one chance in a million of beating a prime Lewis.
Joshua does not hit 'very hard'. As he has 'stepped up' (i.e. he is fighting lesser bums than the real bums he fought early on) his competition, he has scored more accumulation stoppages than one-punch KO's. And he has not shown 'a great offensive repetoire'. He throws lots of straight 1-2 combinations and very little else. MTF
The dude punches very hard, man. The only guy to stand up to it for any period was 255lb breazeale and the pounding he took had me watching the thing through my fingers
I'm not sure how much of a test Wlad will prove for AJ, but if Wlad gets the right hand in there, we'll at least learn more about the chin, I presume. The reason I'd favor AJ over Ike is mostly due to the size advantage, and the fact that Ike gets hit a fair bit. But of course I don't make that pick with 100% confidence. I think we need to see AJ against the likes of Wlad and Parker to learn a bit more about him.
I agree that Ike looked like the real deal. I have watched some of his fights other than the Chris Bird and Tua fights. Also against bums. He does get hit at fights but at a certain point he explodes with some blazing punches that seem to come from nowhere. Too bad we didn't see more of him. To beat him, you need to have an iron chin and you need to be a very good boxer. And you need to take body punches well aswell, as he went for the body aswell.
