Can AJ come back and dominate?

Lol Andy Ruiz is quality opponent now? Because he beat Joshua a fighter you like it makes him a good opponent? Joshua has yet to fight any quality opponents. Unless you consider old Wladimir Klistchko and old Alexander Povektin something special. I know AJ beat Charles Martin, Dominic Breazeale and Eric Molina. Wait maybe the Joseph Parker that most people think fat Andy Ruiz beat?

 

Not sure, Ruiz is not a great fighter, but he is a level above AJ. Now, I'm a fan. Let's see him put an ass whooping on Wilder.

 

Um Wlad knocked AJ down in the 5th. It took AJ to the 11th round to get his legs back and before he started throwing punches again. From round 6 to 10 AJ landed 5 punches in round 6, 5 punches in round 7, 6 punches in round 8, 6 punches in around 9, 5 punches in around 10. Also Wlad was so timid he was afraid to jump on AJ. If he did AJ would of been stopped.

 

Agree with this.

You do have to feel sorry for him. He’s never built himself up to be the next Ali. Always publicly acknowledged his flaws and admitted his isn’t the most talented while those around him marketed him to stardom.

There are still things that can change. He still has time on his side to a degree and can improve. He way we’ll thrive off of the underdog status he’ll inevitably awarded if/when he fights Wilder/Fury. Most of this unlikely though.

 

that's true AJ didn't look good getting knocked down

I think ruiz hits harder then I thought always knew he had power but dude can wack

 

With Lennox, it was a case of him not being prepared due to filming his cameo in Oceans Eleven instead of training, and basically seeing Rahman as a gimme defence he could navigate without any problems. And even then, it wasn't a systematic beating but one big shot that put Lennox away.

Joshua and Hearn seem to be hiding behind the narrative that this is "a minor setback" and that they only had six weeks to prepare for Ruiz, while conveniently ignoring that Ruiz only had 6 weeks to prepare for Joshua. It's as if they can't get their heads around what has happened.

 

Precisely, couldn't agree more. I cringe when I hear minor setback from AJ and Hearn, it's just damage control really.

They know that this is the worst possible outcome, and that AJ lost more than his titles yesterday. Big question marks over AJ's future and his ability to win the rematch.

 

I think he will beat Ruiz in the rematch. Probably easily. And against most opposition, he could dominate. However, this really does indicate to me he just wouldn't have a good chance against Fury and Wilder. Maybe even Usyk. People are going overboard in talking about how bad and flawed etc he is, but it does show some vulnerabilities that the very elite can take advantage of.

 

I think Big Andy turns Joshua over in the rematch (they were talking about November) and then gives your boy Dillian his long overdue shot at a World title.

 

He can come back and be in plenty of great fights but domination I’d dare say is almost out the question. The other champions clearly represent massive threats, moreso now than ever. The gap between Joshua and current contenders clearly isn’t as big as many(myself included) thought it was. There are some guys on their way up that based on last night’s fight that I think would be extremely problematic for him, Makhmudov in particular. And that’s not to mention the arrival of Gassiev and Usyk. He’ll be in the mix again for sure, but I don’t think he’ll ever be above it like people used to think he was.

 

He needs to reassess his whole situation really. Personally I’d like to see him down to 230/235. He’s too big! Someone touched on it a few months back, but perhaps it’s time to freshen things up with a new trainer. Get some extra strings to his bow. If he’s going to be a backfoot fighter, he needs the tools to do this.

Also, combination punchers are his Achilles heel. Povetkin showed this, and Ruiz confirmed it. Makes me wonder what might have happened, had Parker been more confident on the night.

 

if the referee had allowed Parker to fight.

 

Joshua could come back. Lennox and Wlad are definately prime examples. But let's see if he has that mental makeup. You have to have character to comeback from shocking ko loss.

 

Was the china broken? Or was the china shattered. Example broken china ali norton. Comeback possible. Example shattered china lara angulo. He was never the same.

 

AJ just hasn't looked like the same fighter after Wlad. He just doesn't seem as quick post Wlad. Slow and more mechanical than usual. I think he put in too much weight. 230 is where he needs to be, where he was when he fought Whyte. Him flirting with 250 I think slowed him down.

Also I think he just got over coached. He had that Wilder killer instinct before Wlad. After it just felt like his trainer got into his ear about boxing and showing skill. Feel like it took away his aggressiveness and what made him great. You can say alot of things about Wilder but they let him be himself. They don't over coach him.

Honestly think he needs a new trainer that will let him be wild again. His trainer doesn't have much pizzazz.