What fight would people most like to see in 2018?

[soul_survivor]

Degale v winner of WBSS

As that would crown the top guy in the division.

[Mr Objecitivity]

Perhaps Vasyl Lomachenko vs Mikey Garcia. Also, any fight between the top light heavyweights like Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol, Badou Jack and etc.

I would also love to see a potential Anthony Joshua vs Alexander Povetkin fight as well. That seems like a very interesting match up to me.

[Mr Objecitivity]

There are so many ways to evaluate how good or bad a boxer is. Of course, ultimately the best boxer is the one who could beat any and every other boxer in the world head to head. Or, the boxer who can beat more opponents than any other boxer in the world. However, the attributes / characteristics that boxer would use to win may not be down to purely learnt boxing skills, but innate abilities. In this case, weight! That boxer may be inferior to other boxers in terms of all round boxing skills defensively and offensively. That boxer may have inferior speed. Inferior body coordination. Inferior timing. Inferior footwork. Inferior reflexes and so forth so on. However, the single advantage of having a significant weight advantage over their opponents could be the main decisive factor which enables them to defeat their opponents, despite being inferior in other departments.

So head to head, the best heaviest boxers are obviously superior. However, in terms of separating boxing skills defensively and offensively, the best boxers from the lighter weight divisions are going to be usually more skilled and superior to the heavier boxers I believe.

[TonyGe]

The only dense people in this thread are those who refuse to recognize the difference between being the best pound for pound and actually being the best. They are two completely different things.

When you say the best boxer most people feel the best boxer is the guy that has the best fundamentals. Of course AJ would beat a guy the size of Crawford or Lomo. AJ is bigger and those guys can't hurt him but he would crush them. Don't be surprised if most people disagree with your interpretation of the best boxer. The best boxer may not even be the best P4P fighter because there are other factors. Chin, heart etc. That is why there are weight classes. Wilder may very well beat AJ but few people would then say that he is the best boxer in the world. The best heavyweight, yeah but not the best boxer.

[Mr Objecitivity]

When you say the best boxer most people feel the best boxer is the guy that has the best fundamentals. Of course AJ would beat a guy the size of Crawford or Lomo. AJ is bigger and those guys can't hurt him but he would crush them. Don't be surprised if most people disagree with your interpretation of the best boxer. The best boxer may not be the best P4P fighter because there are other factors. Chin, heart etc.

The best boxer head to head is going to be the boxer who can beat more opponents than any other boxer and actually has the feats to suggest that he / she can do such a thing.

The most skilled boxer is the boxer who has the best COMBINATION of defensive plus offensive stats combined. This means the boxer who has the best offensive + defensive stats combined is going to be the most 'skilled' boxer OVERALL compared to any other boxer from any other weight division.

The best defensive boxer is the one who gets hit statistically less than any other boxer from any other weight division.

The best offensive boxer is the one who is able to land the most effective + damaging punches upon their opponents compared to any other boxer from any other weight division.

[Mr Objecitivity]

Anything is possible. You may be right.

But clearly, AJ's team doesn't believe that. Their actions make it very obvious they view Wilder as the biggest threat out there.

Just as AJ is the biggest threat to Wilder.

So whether it's a 12 round war, or one completely dominates the other, it is the moment of truth for each of them regardless and a fight HBO is desperately trying to prevent from happening.

Showtime is doing everything possible to try to make this fight happen ASAP. HBO is doing everything possible to try to block the fight from occurring. Even if the fight doesn't excite you much, it is the most important fight that can be made in boxing right now. A fight to determine who is the best boxer in the world.

I don't disagree with you that the best heavyweight in the world would be the best boxer head to head. However, even if Deontay Wilder beats Anthony Joshua, it wouldn't necessarily mean he will be the best heavyweight in the world.

The best heavyweight in the world is the boxer who can beat more opponents than any other boxer in the world and has the feats to suggest he can. Thus, that boxer will also be the best boxer OVERALL in boxing from a head to head perspective, not just the best heavyweight boxer. However, Deontay Wilder can't be put into this category because he doesn't have the feats to suggest he can beat more boxers than any other boxer in the world, when taking into consideration he has only fought and beaten one opponent ranked in the top 10 of the heavyweight rankings. Thus, only beating Anthony Joshua will be a very small sample size to use for inferring that he is the best boxer / heavyweight boxer in the world. He has to prove it against top ranked opposition consistently, time and time again like Wladimir Klitschko did to qualify as such a boxer. Until then, it is a bit to premature to claim that he would be the best boxer / heavyweight boxer, only if he beats Anthony Joshua. The same argument can be applied to Anthony Joshua as well!

[TonyGe]

The best boxer head to head is going to be the boxer who can beat more opponents than any other boxer and actually has the feats to suggest that he / she can do such a thing.

The most skilled boxer is the boxer who has the best COMBINATION of defensive plus offensive stats combined. This means the boxer who has the best offensive + defensive stats combined is going to be the most 'skilled' boxer OVERALL compared to any other boxer from any other weight division.

The best defensive boxer is the one who gets hit statistically less than any other boxer from any other weight division.

The best offensive boxer is the one who is able to land the most effective + damaging punches upon their opponents compared to any other boxer from any other weight division.

I agree with your statement "compared to any other boxer from any other weight division" That's how I see it also..

[Mr Objecitivity]

I agree with your statement "compared to any other boxer from any other weight division" That's how I see it also..

I'm glad we can agree to that. So for me, if boxer A has a slightly better defense than boxer B, but has a totally inferior offense, boxer A can't be considered a more 'skilled' boxer than boxer B. Since to me, boxing skills are a combination of both defensive and offensive skills.

Being defensively better alone isn't sufficient enough for me to accept someone as the best P4P boxer. Their combination of offensive and defensive skills must be better than any other boxer in the world. Only then would someone fulfill the criteria for being ranked number 1 P4P.

This is why I have Vasyl Lomachenko as the number 1 ranked P4P boxer. His defensive skills combined with his offensive skills are better than any other boxer in the world from any weight division in boxing today. Some might have a slightly better defense, like Rigondeaux. Whilst some may have a slightly better offense, like Anthony Joshua or Golovkin. However, none of them have the best combination of defensive and offensive skills as Vasyl Lomachenko.

[Butt stuff]

The only dense people in this thread are those who refuse to recognize the difference between being the best pound for pound and actually being the best. They are two completely different things.

I bet you pee sitting down.

[N/A]

When you say the best boxer most people feel the best boxer is the guy that has the best fundamentals.

That's because most people are emotional, not logical. The person who is the best at a sport is the person who would win.

You could create 17 basketball leagues with various height limits and perhaps there would be a great player in the 5 foot & under division that you could claim is the best "inch for inch" player in the world.

But that doesn't change the fact that the best basketball player period would be playing in the unlimited height league. The other divisions with height limits would simply be a way to monetize and market inferior players.

Read back through this thread and it should be blowing your mind just how ****** people are. Pound for pound exists for a reason, so that you guys can have these fantasies, but it doesn't change who the best actually is. Anthony Joshua would destroy Floyd Mayweather in the sport of boxing, therefore Joshua is better at the sport of boxing.

Of course he's better because he's bigger, and if you want to claim Mayweather is better at his size than Joshua is at his size, that's fine. But that's not an excuse to completely ignore reality and pretend that facts aren't facts. Look how upset people are getting over a very simple and very true statement: The best boxer is the person who is the best at the sport of boxing. It's common sense. Yet many of you are freaking out. It's completely bizarre.