Opportunity Knocks - How Decisively does Joshua have to beat Ngannou to satisfy his legacy?

[Atypicalbrit]

How did he "tarnish" his image by boxing superblly in the rematch? That's ridiculous. He's a boxer. He may have disappointed some fans by not going knockout crazy but it's boxing, and you're on a boxing forum. Does Fraudy get dissed for running around in Germany and winning the belts of 40 year old Wlad in a non-fight?
Anyway, Joshua will again prove why Fury is ducking him by demolishing the mma guy. Fury will never, ever set foot in the ring with AJ. Worst thing Hearn ever did with AJ was allowing him to batter Fury in sparring - since then Fury knows he's beaten, and like the coward his father is, he won't fight.

It's fan double standards, Wlad gets so lauded now that people forget he boxed like AJ in the Ruiz rematch for like 10 years straight, against fighters worse than Ruiz.

Me personally winning is winning

[crimsonfalcon07]

The type of boxing "fans" you're talking about here are haters. They're in it to crap on people who have been successful in their lives. Nothing more to it. He'd better not get knocked down like Fury, or worse, get knocked out. If he boxes on the outside and wins, it proves the point about boxing skills. If he wins by knockout, of course that's probably ideal. But the haters who want to talk smack aren't going to be satisfied and will move the goal posts. They're going to talk smack about the fact that he's fighting Ngannou at all, especially after he made fun of Fury doing so, instead of the likes of Parker, Hrgovic, Zhang, or even Wilder.

[hugh grant]

All he needs is to boast he did better than fury did. Then it makes fury v josh more sellable

[Haka]

Do you think that if he fights a 0 - 1 (0) pro the way he fought Ruiz in their rematch, knowing that Fury didn't take Ngannou seriously and Joshua did, that this would actually HURT Joshua's reboot?

I was referring to the image of how he once was hailed as the next big thing. That is not going to be restored in the minds of the fans and especially of his competitors, after Ruiz 1 and 2. At this point for Joshua it is not about images but about getting the bag and finish his career on a good note. We've seen Fury struggle with Ngannou so within that context is a W a W. Ngannou has proven himself to be a good competitor at that level.

[Haka]

How did he "tarnish" his image by boxing superblly in the rematch? That's ridiculous. He's a boxer. He may have disappointed some fans by not going knockout crazy but it's boxing, and you're on a boxing forum. Does Fraudy get dissed for running around in Germany and winning the belts of 40 year old Wlad in a non-fight?
Anyway, Joshua will again prove why Fury is ducking him by demolishing the mma guy. Fury will never, ever set foot in the ring with AJ. Worst thing Hearn ever did with AJ was allowing him to batter Fury in sparring - since then Fury knows he's beaten, and like the coward his father is, he won't fight.

Because he was meant to make a statement against Ruiz, proving that the loss against him was just a fluke. He did not make a statement but avoided Ruiz for 12 rounds and got the Saudi bag.

[N/A]

How Decisively does Joshua have to beat Ngannou to satisfy his legacy?

AJ, being the man who constantly measures himself with Fury while claiming he never does it, but even outside of that, he must win decisively: solid outpunching if not a KO or a KO, no matter in which round. As already noted: AJ used to pretend what a solid fighter he was until Ruiz cracked the myth and then AJ needed 12 rounds of running around to win the rematch. Then he turned out not to be that technical either because he was twice dominated by Usyk and got a shameful mental drop. I'd say his comeback isn't that far from his image ruined, because he put in good efforts to win against a top 30, then needed 7 rounds against the one-week notice Helenius who Wilder knocked out in one round and then he needed his ex-sparring partner only to pretend how great he is again. All of that is something too cheap for the nature of his claims, so that is how I conclude that he must prove some great technical skills or prove he's the big puncher he used to be. Because at this point he is neither of the two, but really a sausage rather.

[Toffee]

An inarguable win won't change his legacy but it does increase his standing in the present.

There'll be huge clamour for a Fury v Joshua fight.

A loss kills Joshua's current status. So he needs to just not lose.

[Marchegiano]

Just doing better than Fury did is good enough. Hearn can used that fine.

Top level boxing promotion is all done by juxtaposition anymore anyway. His promotion is already tied into comparing so all he needs is some new material to favor him when comparing

[mrbig1]

AJ should beat Ngannou brains out. he's slow with little movement. AJ has been in the ring for years. the only thing wrong with AJ is in his head. I don't think he ever recovered from the first Ruiz fight. A win is a win. If Fury beats Usyk this will set up a fat payday for AJ. Then retire.

[YGriffith]

Beat him decisively and not rob hi, that'd be enough to bot turn him into a joke like the otherfraud.

It would be better ifhe knocks Francis out back to MMA