Who will be the bigger star: Canelo or Joshua?

[GhostofDempsey]

Ali was more popular than SRL, he only got huge during the Duran/Hagler and the Holmes Berbick era and slowly faded away along with Hearns after Tyson got big. No one was really into Lewis or Wlad, but they still missed watching someone get starched hence Naseem Hamed's popularity, he paved the way for midgets.

Holmes was champion during most of Leonard's prime. Leonard was way more popular.

No one was really into Wlad or Lewis...ok, so why would they be into Joshua if he doesn't even have the talent pool to choose from that they did during their fighting prime?

The Hamed comment is ignorant and trollish at best.

[bigdunny1]

Joshua obviously. Everything about the comparison speaks in AJs favour.

AJ:
- Fights the best
- Speaks English
- Is a heavyweight
- Devastating KOs every fight
- People person

Canelo:
- Mexican

AJ fights the best? He just fought Klitch who is not the best HW and was coming off a loss to Fury. Fury by the way beat Klichko easily was not put on the deck in that fight. Canelo at 26 has already fought Cotto, Floyd, Trout, Lara, Mosley ect. He got 3 HOFers on his resume and numerous P4P ranked fighters at the time he fought. Klitch was long gone from P4P ranking at the time Joshua fought him. Joshua who is already older then Canelo and was fighting nothing but bums before last weekend. If we talking about who has fought the best it's Canelo and it's not even close. Only fight Canelo hasn't made that fans have asked for is GGG. Joshua hasn't fought Wilder, Ortiz or Fury.

[Randall Cunning]

I think people are making too much of the English speaking angle. Duran never spoke English and the man is a boxing icon. Pac speaks broken English and is known all over the world (or as Floyd said, "he can't speak no English). GGG, Loma, Kovalev, Cotto all speak broken English and are arguably more popular than Wilder.

I'm not saying Joshua won't be a big star. I like him, and I hope he is successful, but by the time he reaches 25 fights at the age of 30, the well will run dry and people will be tuning out when he is only fighting once a year against no-hopers. The division's glory days are well behind, there just isn't enough talent to go around today. Joshua will suffer the same fate as Holmes, a champion without an opponent. He beat a faded Ali after he had already been established, Joshua beat a faded Klitschko to launch his name. The air of Holmes balloon went out after he lost to Spinks. If Joshua loses to a guy like Haye or even Parker, everyone will call him a hype job. That's boxing in the 21st century--one loss takes you from hero to zero. Especially if you only fight once or twice per year.

Youre just looking at whats there now, he has a Klitschko rematch, Wilder, Fury, Haye if he comes back and beats Bellew, Pulev, Ortiz, Parker, Whyte rematch could do well in a few years. Theres 8 possibles for now

In the future you could have Usyk. Okolie, Dubois and Joyce will be built up to be future opponents

[iamboxing]

Holmes was champion during most of Leonard's prime. Leonard was way more popular.

No one was really into Wlad or Lewis...ok, so why would they be into Joshua if he doesn't even have the talent pool to choose from that they did during their fighting prime?

The Hamed comment is ignorant and trollish at best.

Because people weren't into Holmes. They didn't like his style (I loved it, his jabs were sublime). A HW who has charisma (Ali) or ruthless with a high KO ratio (Tyson) always trumps lighter divisions.

If it wasn't for Naseem Hamed featherweights wouldn't even be on the map or earn as much as they earned. Featherweights were NEVER watched by casuals, but Naseem brought all the casuals in and increased HBO's ratings tenfold. Everyone knows this.

[GhostofDempsey]

Youre just looking at whats there now, he has a Klitschko rematch, Wilder, Fury, Haye if he comes back and beats Bellew, Pulev, Ortiz, Parker, Whyte rematch could do well in a few years. Theres 8 possibles for now

In the future you could have Usyk. Okolie, Dubois and Joyce will be built up to be future opponents

No I'm not actually. A few posts back I mentioned a rematch with Wlad, Wilder, Fury, Parker, Ortiz. The rest no one will care about. Even the ones who are in the top five now aren't getting anyone's attention, so Joshua beating them won't lure in the casuals around the world. I just don't see how the who's-who of the HW division launches Joshua into super-stardom.

[bigdunny1]

Canelo is not the biggest name in the sport at all. Such a myth

This is just plain ******. If he's not the biggest name then why do his fights generate the most money? Again Joshua's fight didn't even generate as much money as Canelo's fight with Khan did and the khan fight will not even crack Canelo's top 3 fights in money generated. Setting records in the UK is nice but he's largely unknown in the US and that's where the money is. Once he gets some fights in the US we'll see what attendance and TV ratings he can draw. That will lead to US PPVs but if only 600k fans bothered to watch his fight live he has a long way to go to convince fans to buy a PPV. Even drawing US ratings doesn't prove he will succeed in PPVs just ask GGG who draws huge HBO ratings but can only convince about 100k fans to buy his PPVs and he's a KO artist who KO'd everyone before he faced Jacobs and still can't sell PPVs.

Joshua has to do what Lewis and others did and come to the US to cross over and get Americans excited. Canelo can fill 100K stadiums in Mexico and already does insane ratings over there but he fights in the US for a reason.

[GhostofDempsey]

Because people weren't into Holmes. They didn't like his style (I loved it, his jabs were sublime). A HW who has charisma (Ali) or ruthless with a high KO ratio (Tyson) always trumps lighter divisions.

If it wasn't for Naseem Hamed featherweights wouldn't even be on the map or earn as much as they earned. Featherweights were NEVER watched by casuals, but Naseem brought all the casuals in and increased HBO's ratings tenfold. Everyone knows this.

You telling me Hamed was more popular than Pep, Arguello, Barrera, Morales, Marquez, and plenty of other smaller fighters over the decades? The reason for his popularity had as much to do with his antics and ring entrance as it did his KOs.

[bigdunny1]

Really? Which HW was bigger and more popular than Pacquiao, Mayweather, De La Hoya, Sugar Ray Leonard, at their peaks and during their respective careers?

Exactly. Floyd the biggest draw EVER not only was he not a HW but he was the opposite of a KO artist. As PPV draw he has little to no Knockouts. GGG had like 20 something KO's in a row how did that help him in selling PPVs? 2-3 years ago EVERYONE was saying GGG had all the ingredients to be the biggest star in boxing. KO's can speak english blah blah blah. Years later 2 PPV flops and nobody is saying that anymore.

There are many factors at play on determining what fighters fans are willing to spend big money on. Plus with HW's you are 1 punch away from getting viciously Knocked out every time out. Canelo is already younger and because of his weight class much more likely to last longer in the sport at a high level.

[iamboxing]

You telling me Hamed was more popular than Pep, Arguello, Barrera, Morales, Marquez, and plenty of other smaller fighters over the decades? The reason for his popularity had as much to do with his antics and ring entrance as it did his KOs.

Of course he was! Morales was the undercard for his fight against Soto. Marquez was still coming up along with Mayweather when Naseem was on top. You have to have grown up in the 90s to know this. Morales and Barrera were popular, but Naseem was the main attraction...always. And it wasn't his antics...it was his annihilation of opponents, like Tyson. If the ring walks had been followed by boring fights no one would care. It was Barrera's win over Naseem that made him a star. Prior to that he was just a popular fighter with an average size fanbase.

[Joe Beamish]

Canelo is only big among spanish speakers. Nobody else knows anything about him or cares.

Mexicans don't care who he fights. He could be fighting anyone, mickey mouse, makes no difference. They just want to see Canelo. He has his own logo like Floyd.

So is Canelo a big star? Yes in Mexico. And among mexican americans in the US.

No in Europe and Asia. Not at all. He's a zero.

The same thing goes for Joshua, in reverse. But Joshua, unlike Canelo, has a story: He beat a legend in dramatic style.

Canelo did nothing. Maybe he will fight Glolovkin and do something. This would help.

But right now he did nothing except be a cute looking Mexican who looks Irish. He got outclassed by a legend. He doesn't have a story except being Mexican.

Bigger upside resides with Joshua, who fights the best and beats them.