Awful fight on an otherwise good card, Sheeraz was painfully tentative, Adames should’ve won on workrate alone (but also didn’t offer much of anything…)
Usyk should retire imo nothing more to prove. no one is interested in seeing him stop Dubois again.
And this is exactly what will happen, Dubois’s improved, but Usyk will always be too clever and have too many tools for him. I’d also like to see Usyk fight some non Brits, having beat Fury, AJ, Dubois and Bellew… probably time for other countries to have a go at beating him!
I can see both losing, or AJ retiring before this becomes a realistic fight. Dubois should be thinking about Gorman, Joyce, Ajagba, Hrigovic more than Joshua (cash cow though he is)
Whyte’s savage comeback here made me laugh “and everyone hates him” hahaha.
Okolie is one of the few boxers who I can’t sit through an interview with. Dude is so dull. Fights similarly too.
Just re-watched Joshua v Breazeale. Breazeale was tough and game, but little else. So slow, got consistently outjabbed, and looked horribly beat up by the end. Even though Joshua fought fairly recklessly, he was rarely hit with anything and buzzed Breazeale frequently before the KO.
That said, Breazeale might be a different prospect for Wilder, he’ll outweigh him significantly and is a big tall lump with a half decent chin.
Wilder by KO is the easy pick, but should be fun whilst it lasts!
Just 12 amateur fights at least explains why Yarde is being moved slowly, but you can’t help the feeling any of the top 10 at light heavy will wipe him out.
It’s a really strong division at present and I just don’t see Yarde as being able to trouble Kovalev, or any of the title holders - or Buatsi who I’d happily put my house on beating him now let alone a few fights down the line.
Always something with AJ fights just like with GGG. They just about the buisness. AJ isn't even that great. If this wasbthe HW's of the 90's or 00's he wouldnt even have a belt...FKN Klitz should of finished him off when he had him hurt.
There were some great champions in the 90’s, but the 00’s were largely terrible.
I’d take Joshua, Wilder and Fury over any of: Ruiz, Maskaev, Chagaev, Valuev or Byrd all of whom won major heavyweight titles. Even the better champions weren’t that good, AJ, Fury and Wilder could’ve easily competed in that era.
Usual load of rubbish from Warren “we all know he’ll be campaigning at light heavyweight by then”... do we?
How about Saunders wins his fight tonight first, then earns a fight with Smith ahead of the other contenders at super middle.
Smith beats Saunders for me.
Spoken like a true AJ apologist,hopfully AJ gets kod by Dildo Whyte so he can reap what he sowed.
I’d be fine with that - I’m a big Whyte fan. But... I do think AJ has his number.
Whyte deserves his shot, he’s beat some decent opponents since the Joshua loss, but as much as I like him and Whyte has improved, I just think Joshua has his number and the result will be pretty similar to the first fight.
I see Whyte, Miller and then either Pulev or Usyk for Joshua in 2019.
Fury v Wilder rematch in the meantime, with the winner taking on Breazeale for the WBC mando.
Hopefully the last men standing meet in 2020... and hopefully it’s not Pulev v Breazeale 😀
Worst unified champion in Heavyweight division history. An absolute disgrace. He'd stay awake to watch Dillian Whyte vs. Del Boy 2.
Well yeah, Whyte v Del will be a great fight, and start before 11pm.
The reality is that Deontay will have a punchers chance against absolutely anyone he’s in with.
Styles making fights, I think AJ v Wilder is still a 50/50 fight. If Wilder lands he can absolutely take AJ out, but AJ is becoming a far better boxer than he was. Hard one to call.
I favoured Fury over AJ pre Wilder, but despite Fury’s showing I think I’m now swinging to Joshua. Joshua would fight more intelligently than Wilder, would try to hit the body more. His size and strength would also present a different problem for Fury.
Fury could still outbox him, but if he doesn’t get the decision against Wilder, I can’t see him winning on the cards against Joshua...
Fury should've got the decision though, he was blatantly robbed.
I don't see how AJ beats Fury tbh, he's looked rubbish against guys who moved a bit (Takam, Parker) and Fury is far superior to those two.
Joshua comes forward in straight lines and fights in the pocket, easy work for a technician like Tyson.
Yeah that’s what I mean, as he didn’t get the decision against Wilder, I think he might he might get jobbed again against AJ if it came to a decision (I felt the Parker cards were way off).
I think AJ’s struggles with Takam and Parker, and Povetkin for a few rounds is based on their size too. He tends to struggle with smaller opponents for some reason. Well, I say struggle but KO’d Povetkin and won every round until the dodgy stoppage v Takam.
I can see AJ sticking to a decent strategy against Fury and causing him a few problems. Fight would probably be a stinker, and come down to judging preference again.
You are delusional. Wilder vs Fury II is by far the biggest HW fight compared to Joshua vs anyone.
Got to be a joke post surely, Haye is never fighting again.
How does AJ beat Tyson Fury?
He's a stiff robotic boxer who comes forward in straight lines, his style is bread and butter for Fury. Not to mention how rubbish AJ has looked against anyone with a bit of footwork and movement.
You can add Gorman to your prospect list as well.
As I said, they’re pick’em fights. So whilst I can definitely see the potential of Fury outboxing AJ, I also think AJ is a better boxer than he’s given credit for and improving hugely.
I’m usually quite critical of AJ, but I could see Mcracken giving him a good strategy against Fury, and AJ being able to follow it - certainly better than anything Wilder offered.
He has the power to hurt Fury, and I don’t think he’d be worried about what’s coming back, I think his size and strength will give him opportunities to land at some point and he’s a very decent finisher. The movers he’s had problems against tend to be smaller guys which I think has come into it.
You can argue it either way, so until the fight happens I can see either side. I like both guys as fighters so we’ll see how it pans out!
Re: Gorman, although a prospect, I think he’ll struggle at the highest level. Don’t see him coming out on top against the other prospects mentioned perhaps other than Dubois... seems like a good guy though so I’d be happy enough to be proved wrong.
Frank can’t even try and hide his bitterness these days can he. Not a good look!
Who’s number 1 is academic really until they all fight each other. But I agree these three are streets ahead of the other contenders at heavy. Second tier of Ortiz, Whyte, Pulev, Chisora etc...
For what it’s worth, styles make fights and I think Fury beats Wilder in a rematch, but loses to AJ, then AJ loses to Wilder. But really any combination is a pick’em fight.
By the time those fights have taken place, a couple from Joyce, Kuzmin, Usyk, Dubois, Yoka and Hrigovic should have emerged as the next major threat.
There is a really good chance Whyte beats Joshua, He's a much better fighter than the first fight. I would put money on Whyte.
Wasn’t Whyte carrying an injury into the first fight too?
I think he can worry Joshua, he’ll definitely give it a good go anyway. Eventually though I just think Joshua will have his number.
If Ortiz wants to fight Joshua, he can't fight guys like Cojanu. He has to fight Parker, and guys that Parker fights...like Cojanu
Haha, Parker had a belt though, so that got him the Joshua fight.
Weirdly I don’t hate the Pulev fight for Joshua outside of Whyte and Miller.
I hate it because it’s an awful fight, but it’s actually the fight I’m hoping he takes since he has to eventually. Why not now? He clearly doesn’t hve anyone else to fight.
I think it’d be an ok fight, Pulev looked relatively decent v Hughie (better than Parker did) despite having a long time out. Only got the one loss on his record, and will be a big awkward lump.
As you say, Joshua’s got to take the fight at some point, so might as well do it whilst nothing else interesting is on the table.
Haye should concentrate on beating Bellew before setting his sights any higher. I’ll be sticking money on Bellew to repeat his win last time out.
Won’t happen but even if Haye did win in style, Hearn would think twice before considering Haye as an opponent. The number of fights Haye has pulled out of due to injuries makes him way too risky an opponent to sign up for a stadium size fight.
I actually think Groves will beat Eubank, but if he doesn't, I still don't see him retiring unless he takes a really sustained beating or big KO loss.
Win or lose there's still the potential to make decent money in a grudge match against Degale, a cash out situation similar to Khan v Brook. Both damaged fighters coming off losses, but with enough bad feeling and profile in the UK that people would want to see it. (Assuming Degale comes through a Truax rematch which is by no means certain).
Fury’s obsessed with retirement - he likes to preach going to extremes. Should probably give his cousin Hughie a call if he really wants someone to retire.
£6m isn’t a bad prize fund - I’d probably just retire on that 😂
Fair play to Smith, but Zurdo & Benevidez have good claims on being the best at 168 too. We’ll see who comes out on top over the next year or two.
In some regards they do but I do think he has the most solid claim to being number 1 plus the ring belt
Agree, Groves is definitely the best name on any of their records.
Uzcategui’s win over Dirrell is probably better than either of Zurdo or Benavidez’s best wins too.
Would imagine Usyk will want 2 or 3 fights at heavy before getting in with the likes of Joshua or Wilder.
He has the ability to box circles round anyone at heavy, but doesn’t have huge power, so it will be an interesting journey for him at the higher weight.
Have to see how his stamina holds up with another 20 or so pounds on his frame as output is such a big part of his game.
He’d be giving up somewhere between 4 and 7 inches of reach on AJ, Wilder and Fury, plus somewhere in the region of 3 to 6 inches in height, so punching up, needing to fight inside or around a long jab...
Is AJoke turned down $50,000,00 guaranteed! All I need to know. Ortiz would beat him and so would Wilder
Ortiz would not beat Joshua.
He is a 40 year old man with no elite wins, no titles and barely any notable victories.
Nothing to suggest he beats a man who’s taller, heavier, younger, more active and has fought a higher standard of opposition in the last two years than Ortiz has in ten years as a pro.
The Ortiz myth is out of control.