Putting Anthony Joshua's novice status into perspective....

Josh is 13 - 0 .............and a former Olympic gold medallist and unlike the boxers mentioned below is in a crap division full of baloney....

Ossie Ocasio................13-0 lost to Larry........went on to win the WBA cruiserweight title soon after !!!

Tim Witherspoon 14-0 .............got ripped off by Larry and went on to win the Heavy title twice......Best win was Mr Snipes prior to fight.

Leon Spinks 7-0.................Beat Muhammad Ali..............

James Smith 14-1 ........Beat Bruno for his 14th win......Stopped on cuts after 12 against Larry...........Went on to become WBA champ a year later.............

Carl Williams 16-0 .................Lost a close decision and became a respected heavyweight contender...

None of these guys had any top names on their cvs before mixing it in the big one (Bruno in fairness probably the exception)...........and yet went on to become top dogs for a certain amount of time...Williams aside..

One can say Wlad is no Larry Holmes and at 40 is past it too !!..................Also one can say a loss or a rip off to Larry was no bad thing and If anything it helped their careers....It wasn't inexperience that did for Spinks...

Rigo and Lomo lower down have shown that professional exoperience even in tough divisions isn't the be all and end all...

Why waste time......No learning fights out there !!.........Collect a couple more chumps and get in there early next year !!..16-0 and you have more wins than any of these "achievers!!" bar Carl.....

I think he is ready now. Definitely by the beginning of next year. Wlad didn't look too hot in his last fight.

Not sure "HOW" good Joshua is, but he gains nothing beating guys outside the top ten at this stage.

I would definitely pick him to beat Fury and Wilder now. Not sure with Povetkin. Think Joshua definitley has the potential to win, but he comes to fight and would test Joshua's chin and stamina.

Povetkin is a fat slob...........and all that is wrong with the current scene....

Steffan Tansted is his twin brother..

5 minutes I'd give him.....

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Povetkin is a fat slob...........and all that is wrong with the current scene....

Steffan Tansted is his twin brother..

5 minutes I'd give him.....

I think he could take him a few rounds.

Rigo & Loma, two greatest amateurs of the last 20-30 years, possibly of all time, are yardsticks of what can be achieved turning pro with a medal? Ridiculous.

Needs to be moved faster, but this isn't the 80s (sorry kid) and nobody moves at an 80s pace anymore.

Don't remember half this much hoopla being made about Wilder who, in his 11th fight, fought a guy weighing 400lbs and in his 14th a guy with a 11-38 record!! He's fought 7 times in the last 12 months against a combined record of 220-83.

Needs to be pushed harder but suggesing he be chucked in with K now is akin to saying Floyd should be chucked in with GGG at 160 as there's no other real challenges there for him. Don't see you being so keen to risk Floyd's '0' as you are AJ's.

Easy, tiger (s)! The heavyweights are a different breed. You mention Spinks, Smith and Williams but these are exceptions to the general rule. Not even Ali genuinely thought that he was ready for a shot at the title after beating George Logan or Billy Daniels (13 or 14 fights and a couple of years into his career, like Joshua is today) - he was only a couple of fights past being dumped on his backside by Banks at that stage, after all. Another eighteen months, a couple of extra gut checks and more experience and he was ready for Liston.

Same applies to Joshua today. Ready by the end of next year, in my opinion, and I would like to see him wear one on the whiskers by then and come through the test to confirm that feeling. Can't help thinking that Leon, in particular, and Williams would have enjoyed more fruitful long-term careers had they not been chucked into the deep end so early. Once you're up there, you're forced to continue in shark-infested waters the whole time. No respite. Now is the moment to make sure that Joshua is not only ready for the big-time but also develops what he needs to stay there.

Joshua was the elite Amateur heavy of his time............Leon was a light heavy gold medallist and had only 7 fights at heavy...

Keep hearing that the pro game is a different beast than the amateur one when referring to Anthony...........Lomo and Rigo showed you don't ned much experience and they are in harder divisions..

If you're good enough you're good enough..

Thanks for your post...

Joshua was the elite Amateur heavy of his time

Gifted a run to the Olympic final which he narrowly edged on a countback with only 40 or so amateur bouts under his belt. Yeh, 'elite amateur heavy of his time'

captain carrantuohil wrote:Easy, tiger (s)! The heavyweights are a different breed. You mention Spinks, Smith and Williams but these are exceptions to the general rule. Not even Ali genuinely thought that he was ready for a shot at the title after beating George Logan or Billy Daniels (13 or 14 fights and a couple of years into his career, like Joshua is today) - he was only a couple of fights past being dumped on his backside by Banks at that stage, after all. Another eighteen months, a couple of extra gut checks and more experience and he was ready for Liston.

Same applies to Joshua today. Ready by the end of next year, in my opinion, and I would like to see him wear one on the whiskers by then and come through the test to confirm that feeling. Can't help thinking that Leon, in particular, and Williams would have enjoyed more fruitful long-term careers had they not been chucked into the deep end so early. Once you're up there, you're forced to continue in shark-infested waters the whole time. No respite. Now is the omet to make sure that Joshua is not only ready for the big-time but also develops what he needs to stay there.

With all due respect they are only exceptions to the rule because in the old days there were less titles and you generally had to clear out top contenders to get a sniff...........and I imagine experience was more vital then because the heavyweights were more competitive than now...

Who knows how much wear and tear the old guys had by the time they got a shot.....

It's not the old days and the talent pool is shallow.....experience isn't at a premium.......

The 80s pool in my thread thrived despite being chucked in early in a good division..

Joshua doesn't have to worry about a good division...

As for Clay did carrying Cooper types really make a lot of difference in readying himself for Liston...I'm not convinced..

As for testing Josh's whiskers I think you're being optimistic there...........

Appreciate your reply..................

Toppy Joshua was Olympic gold medallist.............You can't get higher than that !!

Would say, Truss, that Smith, a uni graduate not in the first flush of youth, had to get on with it at that point of his life. If he hadn't beaten the gassing Bruno, what's more, having been shut out for the first nine and a half rounds, he wouldn't have sniffed a title shot. By comparison, Joshua has time to spare.

As for Williams and Spinks, do you really think that they had particularly fulfilling careers after their early high watermarks? Not sure about that, personally. I absolutely believe, by the way, that fighting Doug Jones, who ran Ali really close, and Archie Moore was invaluable preparation for Ali on the way to his date with destiny. He came through the fire a man, battle-hardened and ready for almost anything.

The way I see it.... is they all fought top champions at a time in their careers when regarded as "green"......They all did pretty well and blossomed from the experience...save for Spinks but his problems weren't boxing related !!.

Williams chin was a lasting problem but he was superb in handing a thriving Cooper his first loss.....post Larry !!..

Joshua isn't fighting a great champion.............He's fighting a one dimensional guy getting old and probably the only Heavy who could teach him something anyway....So defeat wouldn't be a big issue when looking at the fighters in my thread...

Sure he's young but so was Tyson !!!..........He was 20.........Josh is 25..

Is he going to fight anybody to up his game???.............Why waste time If he isn't...

If you're good enough...you're old enough !!.....

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:

One can say Wlad is no  Larry Holmes and at 40 is past it too !!..................

I think it's a bit unfair to say Wlad is past it just because he's 40. From what I can tell he's exceedingly clean living, a proper athlete, always turns up in phenomenal shape and despite his KO losses has taken very little damage over his career. There's nothing other than his age to justify a claim that he's past it.

If i look down the Ring's top 10 heavyweights, I don't see anyone he'd definitely lose to, and in every fight I've give him way more than a 50/50 chance against all of them. Not really the mark of a past it fighter.

All these athletes in the past weren't clean living...I guess..

You aren't as good at 40...Wlad just hasn't got the opposition to expose it.

Truss my friend patience is a virtue

Not always............

He who dares.....wins.