Comparisons don’t come much more complimentary for fighters than being mentioned in the same breath as Muhammad Ali.
Ali may well be the greatest to ever grace a boxing ring and his legacy is one which all young fighters pray to emulate.
Following his most recent knockout victory, Anthony Joshua is earning more comparisons to Ali than ever before and, to be fair, there are several similarities.
Both won Olympic gold medals, both transitioned seamlessly to the professional ranks, both are incredibly marketable and both claimed heavyweight titles at a remarkably young age.
But, obviously, ‘AJ’ has some ways to go if he is to match the accomplishments of Ali in the ring and one man thinks the early comparisons are nothing short of ludicrous.
“Let’s get it right. Tyson Fury had to vacate the IBF title,” veteran promoter Frank Warren told talkSPORT. “AJ picked up the title by fighting Charles Martin, who is possibly the worst heavyweight champion I’ve ever seen in boxing.
“He did what he had to do against Martin, he won the title. He then fought Wladimir Klitschko and fought Dillian Whyte. Klitschko was coming out of 18 months of inactivity after being soundly beaten by Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte is a decent young professional but he is not what you consider a world-ranked opponent. Dillian Whyte wobbled him.
“Klitschko had him on the floor. It was one of the most exciting heavyweight fights I have seen for years, it was a great fight, but it wasn’t Muhammad Ali, it wasn’t Joe Frazier, it wasn’t George Foreman, it wasn’t Kenny Norton, it wasn’t Earnie Shavers, all these guys.
“Joshua has had three title fights and comparing him with Ali? It is beyond stupid.
“He has got a heart like Ali. Ali had a big heart and AJ has got a tremendous heart. He has not got a bad engine, I’ve seen him a couple of times where he has got a second wind in fights.
“But what he has not got is Ali’s chin. Anthony Joshua does not have Ali’s chin, that is for sure.”
Fresh from his stoppage victory over late replacement Carlos Takam in Cardiff, Joshua is undoubtedly the biggest name in British boxing right now.
But Warren argues that the 28-year-old is going to be overtaken sooner rather than later by the up-and-coming Daniel Dubois.
Dubois turned professional earlier this year and wasted no time in knocking out each of his five opponents since April.
The 20-year-old is also understood to have dropped Joshua during a sparring session back in 2015 and ‘AJ’ has insisted that their paths will cross sooner rather than later.
“I try not to go over the top but I personally think, at this stage of his career, he [Dubois] is the best heavyweight I’ve seen in British boxing in my time in boxing,” said Warren.
A worrying mismatch https://t.co/OppV0fJCYM
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) September 17, 2017
“He has something special. He has sparred with Anthony Joshua, he has sparred with a lot of professional fighters and he has more than held his own.
“He really came alight in the trade sparring with Anthony Joshua and how well he did against him. He put him on the floor apparently. That’s inspiring. It’s not the real thing but for a young lad to be doing that and doing it on a regular basis with fighters shows what he is about.”
