Joshua External Issues?!

It's not uncommon, after a sporting upset - especially in an individual sport like boxing - to take stock of a shock result and trace back as many steps as needed to find an anomaly to justify it. If you look back far enough, you'll find something. But you might not find the true reason.

Fighting in the states didn't make Ruiz's hands fast. A change of opponent wasn't why Ruiz got up off his ass after being put on it. A sty on AJ's eye doesn't explain the fact Ruiz displayed far superior ring IQ. Some perceived issue with Hearn and AJ's family wasn't the reason why Joshua chose not to fight on, when he could have. So and and so forth.

The fact is, on the night, Ruiz was better. Maybe AJ wasn't 100% but which fighter is, in any bout? It's part of the challenge of being a champion - dealing with adversity in and out of the ring. He didn't.

 

I hate to say it, but he got outboxed by the better man on the night. Povetkin showed the way.

Was there external factors? Don’t know. If there were, it’s up to Joshua and his team to deal with it.

It’s a stylistic nightmare for him, it would appear; pressure fighters, with skill and heavy handed combos.

 

Please point me to all the preflight threads that said Joshua was in trouble because of what was going on around him and the posts on the fight-night thead saying AJ looked out of it.

There aren’t any.

This is what is know in football as Monday Morning quarterbacking. It stems from the result and trying to rationalize it.

Don’t worry. The final stage of grief is acceptance. You’ll get there, AJ fans.

 

The fight boxing needs is Tyson "He's Not Ready" Fury against Anthony "He's Off" Joshua.

 

Honestly, I don’t think he has been cool in fights. I reckon he burns up a lot of nervous energy. With regard to his psyche, I think he feels the pressure in a negative way. However, his opponents to date have mostly felt their own pressure in the fight, which has worked to Joshua’s favour. He’s still a very good fighter, but Povetkin clearly had confidence and dealt with pressure well, applying his own game plan. Yes, Joshua won, but he was forced to fight a different fight. Ruiz did the same thing.

Sometimes you operate with a rule book, and get everything from it to be the best you can be. Joshua needs a new rule book now, in my opinion. He’s gone from fighting to win, to fighting not to lose. Mentally those two are the same, whilst being very different at the same time.

 

I’m a Brit and was happy for Ruiz as he put on a great show. However, the whole Joshua pre fight just didn’t seem right. He looked all wrong when coming to the ring and then was getting the back of neck and head massaged in corner when Buffer was doing his intros. I seen fighters having shoulders and neck massages but not like that, it seemed strange to me as soon as I saw it, I thought something was odd. I’ve been watching boxing for 35 years and couldn’t remember ever seeing that happen before, it was if they were trying to release tension from his head.
Always liked Joshua but always thought Wilder would spark him and Fury make him look a fool. Recently watched Bruno McCall and frank in that fight reminded me of AJ

 

It's a great thread - we're not overlooking the point of what happend, in that Ruiz beat the brakes off him, but there is a common theme that Joshua didn't seem himself.

He looked flat, disinterested and the talk in the corner was shocking - he was all over the shop. A once cohesive unit between him and his corner just deteriorated rapidly.

That being said it was such a poor performance from Joshua all round I actually found myself cheering Ruiz on.

Great result - pleased for the guy. Hope he can make something of it now.

 

I’m no hater of AJ but I after round 3 also found myself wanting Ruiz to win

 

Povetkin beats Ruiz. Styles make fights and whatnot. Povetkin is an amazing fighter. Age was just against him.

But like I said, Joshua is putting more emphasis on not losing, as appose to winning. These are the same, but psychologically very different. Being a big hitter, and the taller man, Joshua should, in my opinion, have been able to time Ruiz coming in with his reaching jab, and smash him with a big right. But he was more concerned about pure protection, without realising that being effectively offensive yourself is it’s own form of defence.