Perhaps more so than any other division, current heavyweights like Anthony Joshua are often thrown in hypothetical fantasy match-ups with greats of years gone by, with the golden generation of the 1990s one of the most cited eras.
And following his performance against Helenius this past weekend, one pundit does not fancy the chances of the two-time world champ if he was to have mixed it with the likes of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.
In a recent appearance on Talksport, former world champion Carl Froch claimed Joshua would “get flattened” if he was to have stepped in the ring with fighters of that calibre.
“When you see how ‘AJ’ lost to Andy Ruiz and then the back to back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk, I just think the way in which he lost those fights, would you put him in there with an Evander Holyfield? Or Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis?”
“I feel like the workmate and the ability to take punches was better back then. I don’t think that AJ belongs in that era of the 80s or 90s.”
“I don’t think you would be able to say that he belongs in that era, based on the losses. He’d be in there and letting shots go, but he’d be getting flattened.”
It’s not the first time Froch has been less than complimentary of ‘AJ,’ with the pair having been involved in a seemingly never ending back in forth over the past few months.
Thankfully for Joshua, he will not have to worry about taking on the likes of Lewis, Tyson and Holyfield – just the small matter of a potential fight with Deontay Wilder.