Comments Thread For: Anthony Joshua becomes the unfortunate avatar of his heavyweight era

[BoxingUpdates]

Eric Raskin examines the legacy of Anthony Joshua and his chances of being inducted into the Hall of Fame
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[Tatabanya]

Yes, welcome to the Daniel Dubois' heavyweight era. Which will last until he fights Usyk again.

[57Blues]

i think the writer is being a bit too easy on the whole era and those involved.............

[Roberto Vasquez]

Yeah I want to say I never believed. I said AJ's chin would mean he would suffer at least 2 more defeats like Ruiz 1 in his career. You can't avoid punches in HW boxing and natural attributes matter...

AJ's problem was that he seems to need to believe that what happened in Ruiz couldn't happen again (probably because of his ego). He went into the ring against Dubois very uncautious and with poor defense

Maybe AJ will always lose against Dubois? but there is no doubt he could have done at least 5 times better! Uysk said AJ is twice the boxer Dubois was, having faced both - where was that boxer?

i think the writer is being a bit too easy on the whole era and those involved.............

No it's been a very good HW era overall. Also 12 round fights are so much better than 15 round era. People tend to mythologize the past too much. It's different when you were actually there. So many boring 15 round fights!

Also I was saying to some guy here the other day how much Lennox Lewis was crticized at the time for being over cautious. You never hear stuff like that now - he's an "all-time great"! And after Lewis got KO'd by McCall he then had to fight a load of bums to get back in contention. I actually think it was worse back then because most people didn't have a way to check fighter's records

Biggest disappointment of this era is Wilder and Fury avoiding Joshua until a point where it's not longer that exciting if they face him. You can blame that on the fans though. Boxers will do what they can get away with

[landotter]

I have been attacked (or at least "strongly dismissed") for saying this era of HW is:

-Better than the Larry Holmes era. Now mind you, I am NOT SAYING anyone in this group is anywhere as good as Holmes, although I think both Fury and Usyk would have been fun challenges for him. No, I am saying everyone else in his title run were barely "B" level and this group of HW is better top to bottom.

-Better than the Klitschko Bro's era by far.

.It is a shadow of the all time great 70's era and the Lewis/Bowe/Holyfield/Tyson era. Those two time frames were so deep with all time greats it spoiled everyone into thinking it would always be that good.

This group has provided for good names and some good to great fights, particularly over the last few years. No, there will not be books written about them or more than 4 Hall of Famers: Usyk is in first ballot, and the three HW's who held titles the longest in Fury (probably in), Joshua (likely in), and Wilder (Has a chance deserving or not because of his title defenses and highlight reel KO's) will have multiple chances in weak years. Do not forget, the Boxing Hall of Fame waters down it's own existence by requiring a minimum of boxers get in each year, so the top 5 regardless of how many votes they get are always inducted. So I think this era of fighters will be remembered fondly.

[Bob]

No he doesn't, that would be Aj & Wilder.

The & I'm guessing 4 or 5 year's of the Wilder Aj era is the worst era in heavyweight boxing history. Never have 2 heavyweights reigned for so long & avoided each other, ducking undesputed to instead fight past it 38-41 year olds & cans they're supposed to beat & only with parachute rematchroom clauses holding the belts hostage stagnating the division. Eddie & Aj are recorded telling us that was exactly what they were doing.
No sooner than these 2 entitled to coward's never ending clauses got finally removed, undesputed got made without them.
The Klitschko's were understandable but killed the American market & now they no longer care as the sport has been completely replaced by politics that hopefully Turkish can buy & remove.
Aj eddie are so entitled to they now want Fury if he wins to give them a voluntary shot with a record of 6-4 in his last 10.
Get to the back of the line. He's the most carried heavyweight of his own era.

[Bob]

I have been attacked (or at least "strongly dismissed") for saying this era of HW is:

-Better than the Larry Holmes era. Now mind you, I am NOT SAYING anyone in this group is anywhere as good as Holmes, although I think both Fury and Usyk would have been fun challenges for him. No, I am saying everyone else in his title run were barely "B" level and this group of HW is better top to bottom.

-Better than the Klitschko Bro's era by far.

.It is a shadow of the all time great 70's era and the Lewis/Bowe/Holyfield/Tyson era. Those two time frames were so deep with all time greats it spoiled everyone into thinking it would always be that good.

This group has provided for good names and some good to great fights, particularly over the last few years. No, there will not be books written about them or more than 4 Hall of Famers: Usyk is in first ballot, and the three HW's who held titles the longest in Fury (probably in), Joshua (likely in), and Wilder (Has a chance deserving or not because of his title defenses and highlight reel KO's) will have multiple chances in weak years. Do not forget, the Boxing Hall of Fame waters down it's own existence by requiring a minimum of boxers get in each year, so the top 5 regardless of how many votes they get are always inducted. So I think this era of fighters will be remembered fondly.

Your giving out hof to a heavyweight that's never beaten a prime elite heavyweight? & avoided the best until Usyk.
They're story hasn't finished yet & Aj isn't even the 2nd best heavyweight in england.
Aj looses to any of the top contenders on his current record of 6-4 in his last 10.
If he retires now he has a shot for what he somehow achieved outside of the ring, not in it.

[wrecksracer]

I have been attacked (or at least "strongly dismissed") for saying this era of HW is:

-Better than the Larry Holmes era. Now mind you, I am NOT SAYING anyone in this group is anywhere as good as Holmes, although I think both Fury and Usyk would have been fun challenges for him. No, I am saying everyone else in his title run were barely "B" level and this group of HW is better top to bottom.

-Better than the Klitschko Bro's era by far.

.It is a shadow of the all time great 70's era and the Lewis/Bowe/Holyfield/Tyson era. Those two time frames were so deep with all time greats it spoiled everyone into thinking it would always be that good.

This group has provided for good names and some good to great fights, particularly over the last few years. No, there will not be books written about them or more than 4 Hall of Famers: Usyk is in first ballot, and the three HW's who held titles the longest in Fury (probably in), Joshua (likely in), and Wilder (Has a chance deserving or not because of his title defenses and highlight reel KO's) will have multiple chances in weak years. Do not forget, the Boxing Hall of Fame waters down it's own existence by requiring a minimum of boxers get in each year, so the top 5 regardless of how many votes they get are always inducted. So I think this era of fighters will be remembered fondly.

The best two big guys of this era lost to a cruiserweight. A great cruiserweight, yes. Fury and Joshua were being called ATG before they had any great wins. Does Wilder really count? People were trying to put him on the P4P list at one point. The hyperbole surrounding these guys was off the charts. This era just wasn't very deep. Holmes beat guys like Ken Norton and Earnie Shavers. Give me Mike Weaver and Gerry Cooney over freaking Deontay Wilder and AJ.

[IAMTHAT]

The best two big guys of this era lost to a cruiserweight. A great cruiserweight, yes. Fury and Joshua were being called ATG before they had any great wins. Does Wilder really count? People were trying to put him on the P4P list at one point. The hyperbole surrounding these guys was off the charts. This era just wasn't very deep. Holmes beat guys like Ken Norton and Earnie Shavers. Give me Mike Weaver and Gerry Cooney over freaking Deontay Wilder and AJ.

There years ago the champions were AJ, Fury, Wilder.

Now Usyk Dubois

And Dubois from here on for a while and I’m cool with that

[wrecksracer]

There years ago the champions were AJ, Fury, Wilder.

Now Usyk Dubois

And Dubois from here on for a while and I’m cool with that

I don't have a problem with it. I just don't think it's a particularly strong era. There have been some good fights. Good luck to Dubois. I wouldn't mind seeing him fight Parker or Zhang.