It's definitely AJ at this point, and it's not even close.
The "Prestige" of the belts they all hold is irrelevant. The question is "Which HW champ is the most legitimate?" The answer has to be the one who has beaten the best competition - which is Joshua. His win vs Klitschko on it's own is better than anyone else's combined resume (Tyson Fury excluded - but as he's not currently active I'm not considering him).
2003 for me. The fight was Alex Arthur vs Michael Gomez, for any Brits on here. A hell of a fight (won 2003 British fight of the year) which had everything. The undefeated prospect vs the grizzled warrior thought to be past his best, boxer vs puncher, Scotland vs England - and there was loads of bad blood before the fight.
It was enthralling & I've been hooked since :boxing:
yeah degale is a warrior for sure, just seemed like an excessively bad opponent.
For sure! Can't believe DeGale is fighting at LHW against a Welter...... ranked 472 at Welter by Boxrec, who has been KO'd 15 times. Doesn't look like he's won much (or at all) outside Colombia either just to add that to the mix. Such a mismatch on paper.
Hopefully he can win & set up a payday vs Groves or Eubank and retire. He's had his fair share of wars the past few years and seems to be slipping fast.
I've seen the odd jab knockdowns but I don't recall any good jab finishers. Anyone have any other good examples?
Logged in especially for this, so hope you're all grateful (I'm drunk).
The best example I have, and it may be a 1 off as I don't know enough about his career to say otherwise, is Wright vs Trinidad. Pretty much finished with a stiff jab if I remember right.
This is fair enough. The fight for the Ring title should probably be between AJ & Wilder, but the Bronze Bomber doesn't seem to have any inclination to fight anybody with a pulse so #1 vs #3 for the title it is.
Nobody in their right mind still thinks Fury is #1. It will be 2 years since his last fight in November. He looks retired until he shows otherwise.
I have watched Haye's pro career since the start & seen most of his fights. He was an excellent CW, and a lot of people who have become familiar with his latter career hence remember the Klitschko (toe & negative), Valuev (very litte action) & Harrison (farce) either don't know or have forgetten how exciting a fighter he was coming through the ranks.
The Carl Thompson loss was very exciting, the Fragomeni fight was a tough battle & the JM Mormeck KO was a good fight too. He always looked to KO his opponents at CW, and always did bar Ismail Abdoul if I remember rightly. Of his best wins, he KO'd Fragomeni when he was younger & on a hot streak, recovered from a knockdown to KO Mormeck while he was the no.1 CW and close to his best. His brutal KO of Enzo Maccarinelli (when he was also a CW belt holder) also seemed to send Enzo's career into a death spiral, certainly for a time.
As the thread regards his HW career I'll admit that his HW resume is somewhat patchier, despite being in the top 5 for several years. Some of his opponents & performances with the big men haven't been as impressive as they may have been and he's pulled out of fights on several occasions - including the WK fight where the TV company Setanta went bust and he developed a mysterious back injury. I actually had tickets for the fight already, so travelled to Cologne with friends & watched Klitschko vs Chagaev instead!
All in all a good HW I'd say, but his CW credentials are not in doubt as some would try to say :boxing:
I've only seen Cox once, in a Commonwealth LMW defence years and years ago and he looked appalling in struggling to a razor thin points win against a fringe contender for that title if I remember rightly.
As I said that was years ago. Since then he hasn't improved his level of competition and he's now 2 divisions north of LMW, fighting at SMW. Plus Groves looks a lot bigger (height and especially width) when they stand together and has been in great form recently.
I don't give him much of a chance based on all of that. I think if he goes in there aggressively looking to stamp his authority on the fight it could end early.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/nov/22/james-toney-donald-trump-head-saved-world-trouble-boxing
hope his dog the bounty hunter show comes off :lol1:
Thanks for sharing, although Bscene blocked me from sending more Karma your way. Yeah it was a good read :boxing:
That Oquendo is still somehow first in line for a shot at the WBA Regular belt is quite unbelievable. He's nearly 50, and I don't think anybody outside his own family would have him ranked inside the top 50 HWs at this stage.
Surely there must be a time limit on how long it lasts? He hasn't fought it 4 years already; a couple of injury pull outs or some further unforeseen delays will push him to his late 40s, having been inactive for 5/6 years! It feels like he's been the mandatory for a decade already.
It's a good job for him Charr is not that good :friday:
He's 38 and looks shot, he got dropped by Bellew then the fights gets stopped by the referee.
He doesn't look too good anymore like he was in prime, definitely washed up and will never get another title shot.
Should he retire from the sport?
Your thoughts.
Yes. He does look washed up. Time waits for no man, even Bernard Hopkins!
The straight right hand that was so damaging for opponents earlier in his career seems to have gone. It's now a looping right hand, which is very telegraphed. Bellew said post fight he could see the shots coming. A telling sign that the speed has also gone, along with the punch resistance.
A terrific fighter in his prime. The keyboard warriors should go and watch the Fragomeni & Mormeck (when he dethroned the world class Cruiserweight champ on home turf) fights in particular before commenting.
That said, apparently the guy is an absolute tw*t so.......... :dunno: :friday:
Haha love it! Good work TheBigLug :boxing:
Eddie Hearn has some skills to be fair to him. Not as big a repertoire as Al Foran but the ones he did were spot on. Al Foran's Fury was pretty funny & on-point too ("I beat Wlad in his back yard in 2015").
Joshua has no chin.
Bluebeam, I'm assuming you watched the Klitschko fight? And that you are aware of WK's KO percentage, which mostly have occurred in title fights against a good level of oppostion and not against fringe opposition like a certain US belt holder.
AJ is not invincible by any stretch but for my money he's a fair bit sturdier than Wilder.
I dunno if Conor really believes he can win this or if it's just for the money or a bit of both.
But one thing is for sure and those who have followed him know this, he believes in himself no matter what. He sets a goal and accomplishes it.
I just hope that this pay check doesn't ruin his UFC career and he stays motivated. He has a chance to be to the UFC what Pacquiao was to boxing.
I know he does not have a chance in hell vs Mayweather but I'll be pulling for him.
You think he'll fight again in UFC, or otherwise, after this JSFD26? Gotta be honest I think he'll ride off into the sunset.
I'm not a follower of UFC but I recall one of his trainers / managers saying that despite his persona he really fears lasting damage from a combat sports career (who wouldn't).
The fight is an absolute farce, but I can't deny it's amazing that he's gotten himself into the position to make the kind of incredible money he's making and and it has taken a special character to do so with crossover appeal. Plus the once in a lifetime opportunity of boxing's biggest star being cash obsessed whilst always having a safety first mantra. The cards have all fallen into place at the right time. Good luck to him :boxing:
It could do. Stronger legs are really useful to have, especially if they get buckled by a big shot or when getting up after a knockdown. That is surely common sense, for all those saying it doesn't make a difference.
A bigger deal is the gap in skills & chin. Not saying Joshua has Ali skills or a Chuvalo chin, but they look markedly better than Wilder's.
Casuals and MMA fans are offering even money on Floyd to win the fight in many cases. That's what I'm going with. :headbang:
Ganondorf, if you see a legit place where somebody is prepared to bet on McGregor at even money let me know my friend! :boxing:
To be honest, the 1/6 on Mayweather (that's -600 in US currency) is absolutely crazy. I mean I remember Mayweather was 1/7 (-700) against Guerrero, a multi-weight boxing world champion - so according to the oddsmakers McGregor has more chance of winning than Guerrero did :pat:
I didn't see the story. But, how realistic is it that a guy who has never even been down legitimately in 49 fights (against the best the sport has to offer) got KO'd in sparring, where they generally don't go all out, use bigger gloves and wear headgear?
If this offer is accurate & Wilder doesn't take the fight, I will be forever referring to him as Beyonce Wilder, as many already are doing.
Just had a quick reminder glance at Wilder's "Resume" & bar Stiverne, Dillian Whyte would be the best name on there IMO. Could make a point for Whyte being as good as Stiverne to be fair too. Arreola was well past his sell by date when DW fought him, and everyone else is gatekeeper level at best.
So he has 1 world class fighter (Stiverne) on there currently, and even that's pushing it.
I agree with the sentiment that Whyte is on a similar level to Duhaupas. A big difference though which people posting here are not factoring in is that Whyte is still at the stage where he's turning up to win. Duhaupas will & has turned up for the cash to lose, see his fight on 1 day's notice vs Povetkin in Russia if further evidence of this is needed.
My perspective is that whilst Whyte is not massively skilled or a dynamite puncher, he's just durable & skilled enough that given all of Wilder's flaws & vulnerabilities which have already been shown & are no secret, he could get the win provided he's given a fair shake on the cards should it go the distance.
Of course Wilder could also KO him in a few rounds. The fun of boxing.
People are making this out to be the biggest knockdown of the year. It's rubbish. Its just an overweight, over the hill paulie malignaggi stumbling to the floor. Who gives a sh1t? Has no bearing on what will happen on the 26th. No version of Paulie is even close to mayweather, even at 40 years old. I'm sick of this "fight" and can't wait til it's over.
Too true... haha
I'm just in amazement at the so-called TV experts, the few that are giving McGregor a chance. It's as if they have forgotten Mayweather's whole career. You expect it from casuals (I have tried explaining to several of my mates why CM has no chance) but when an ex-boxer / supposed analyst says he's got a shot there's no excuse :pat::nono::lame:
I wouldn't be at all surprised if CM calls it a day after this one. As somebody has said already he has previously expressed a desire to retire young and apparently been open to those close to him about his concerns over the long-term effects of combat related head trauma.
It's going to be very difficult to get up for (still very well paid) 2-5 million dollar MMA purses after having made 100 million in your last fight. Or maybe he'll stay in boxing and get another big money fight. I guess it depends somewhat on how this fight with Mayweather goes.
Yeah I've also read recently that he's spending some time & effort into helping refugees. Let's also hope a bit of his own money went towards the cause, he can afford it.
Absolutely right though Heavyfist, he deserves big props for taking the time out from his schedule to help and adding his name to the cause. Maybe some others can follow his lead :poke:
Bowe - Lewis
Ottke - everyone
Cotto - Golovkin
Canelo - Golovkin
Stevenson - Kovalev
Quigg/Frampton - Rigondeaux
Almost added BJS - Golovkin, but realised that would make my list very GGG heavy! Also, if he fights him as he's claiming he wants to do soon then fair enough, although I'm not convinced he really wants it.
It's also very topical. The ducks of the past fade to black mostly when thinking about current events - except the Bowe - Lewis one of course :-) :boxing::bs2:
Come to think of it, I'm not sure I would put anyone above him even with his age. Tough one, he still looked very very sharp to my eyes versus Manny last time out... :boxing:
I don't think so. He'll fight Garcia / Pacquiao / Canelo for 50-0, earn a ridiculous sum of money, and retire for good.
He's too calculated to come back if he knew he was slipping to the point he might lose / get hurt, so he knows he's still got the goods. His last few performances have proved he's still one of the very top fighters in the sport, and still the very best defensively for my money even at 39.
I'd put Kovalev, Ward & Golovkin above him P4P at this stage of his career (only because of Mayweather's advanced age), but as he's not in their weight categories it's not an issue for him. He'll handle Manny or Canelo comfortably again and Garcia would be a near shutout.
I'd probably change Haye & Wilder around at this stage of their respective careers. Not sure what Haye has left if a fight gets hard.
I believe Fury would handle Wilder. He might get wobbled or knocked down in the process, but he's got too much knowledge & grit for DW.
I think Fury would beat Joshua at this very moment, but in 1-2 years' time...? :boxing:
They are both proud fighting men, and Fury held his nerve well to shock the world.
However while Saunders was edging points decision against British domestic level guys like John Ryder & Nick Blackwell (good luck with the recovery Nick!) GGG has been knocking out early a string of world level guys. The gap in levels is too much. I'd give BJS 9 rounds at best probably.