I've no beef with AJ by the way, I think he's a good kid who's done really well for himself, a nice guy and a strong boxer who can hit hard, he's just not all that good. He can practice all the fundamentals as much as he wants but he will just never have that natural way around a ring that Usyk and Fury have, you're just born with it or you're not, basically.
I agree totally. There has to be a point where you have to say "fuck it, I'm not going to win on points, let's do this". Just didn't see that from AJ and don't think I ever will.
He's a front runner, basically. He's a greyhound. Set the track up, he'll chase the bunny and look good doing it. If the bunny turns around and chases back, he's clueless. He'd stand there looking at it. A mongrel would fuck the rabbit, proper fuck it, do you get me London? Technically, he's been making the same mistakes for years now. That big right swipe. That reaching shot downstairs. He probably is too nice for this racket. Too smiley. Too happy to just be around.
From what point? There was definitely a point I the fight where I thought AJ had no chance of turning it around on the scorecards and he had to go for it, I just never saw him try if I'm honest.
AJ is better than Grant, that's not saying much to be fair, but he hits harder and has beaten better guys by a distance.
Yep. The thing is in 1988 , AJ would have NEVER got within sniffing distance of the Gold Medal at the Olympics. There would have been no slick, powerful, digital ready-made machine to promote him to the nth degree. Grant, for all his flaws, failed when he lost his nerve and went right at Lewis, ironically a move that would have served Joshua better tonight. And Grant was a far more proven guy than AJ was in the run up to his title shot, with wins over Saverese, Izon and Golota. Sometimes a moment just swallows a guy.
This is nonsense. I'm no fan of AJ and I think I rate him fairly, but he's much better than a bum like Grant. Grant's biggest win was when a notorious quitter quit in a fight he was winning by miles. Grant doesn't even get close to beating the 40-odd year old Klitschko that Joshua beat.
I didn't say Grant was better than AJ, at all!!! I said I agreed with Xplosive in that AJ is closer to Grant level than to Lewis level. Then I added that AJ had not faced the same sort of tests as Grant en route to the title......I think that AJ had fought Whyte and somebody called Gary Cornish before he got that IBF title shot.
As Slice says, by politics. He lost his opening bout to the Cuban and lost to the Italian Cammarelle in the final, too.
Haha yeah looking at your post I apologise, I see I read it wrong, my bad. He is closer to Grant than Lewis, but I would counter by saying most heavyweights are closer to Grant than Lewis. I do think AJ was challenging himself far more than Grant though if you compare resumes. I remember being in LA in '99 and having a copy of Boxing Monthly and the whole narrative around him was conveniently changed to "he's a dominator, not a terminator" after he went the distance with Savarese. AJ at the same point was beating guys like Wlad. There's a big difference.
I wouldn't say level/s. I said on a scale from Lewis to Grant, he'd be closer to Grant than Lewis. Meaning there's a bigger gap between Lewis and AJ than there is between AJ and Grant.
Let him get past Wilder in a few weeks first before we discuss the Usyk fight. He most likely will, but with Wilder's power, let's not act like it's a foregone conclusion.
How many heavy's are closer to Lewis than Grant though? Let's be fair, Lewis is one of the best to ever lace them up.
I agree with you, I'm quite worried as a Fury fan about that one if I'm honest, he doesn't seem to be taking it seriously. Let's say he beats Wilder easily followed by Usyk, surely you can't deny him his spot, he would then have beaten the best from his era, 2 gold medallists and if he decides to beat AJ that's 3.
I had Usyk to beat AJ tonight.. made some juicy doe on the points victory. The intellectual gymnastics going on in here is hilarious though. The backtracking!
It's interesting to see these so-called experts, former boxers as well, talking about "why didn't Joshua do more?", without realising how much footwork plays a part in this stuff. It's such a huge part of boxing that is consistently ignored.
It has to be said... just because a fighter like AJ might not have the skills of an USYK, it does. Or good that he is now GARBAGE FFS. He is a fucking beast, the size of the lad. There have been plenty fighters who, while lacking in skill, fall firmly into the " very good" bracket of fighter purely through their physical gifts alone. Alot of you fuckers had AJ to win... now he is GARBAGE? Ridiculous
No it is levels. One was a unified champion with a plethora of good wins. The other did nothing short of get spanked by Lewis and fluke a win against Golota. Grant would absolutely shit his pants against Povetkin, Klitschko, Parker or even Whyte. Joshua is far closer to Lewis than he is Grant. Joshua is comfortably a top 35/30 heavyweight. There's been more than a hundred heavyweight fighters better than Grant. And I'm fairly certain Joshua last a lot longer than seven seconds with Jameel McCline.
Fury will struggle with Usyk too... always maintained that of all the big lads... Usyk is the one that gives him the most trouble.
He's not garbage, I've never said that. I don't think he was ever as good as advertised but he's a strong guy who can put together some really nice combinations depending on the opponent. I just think I've always been realistic in terms of where to rate him.
