Joshua vs Ruiz scorecards

Pascual Procopio is whack

 

At the risk of ridicule, I had it the same as the judges who gave Joshua 3 rounds. 1,2, and 5. Had it that way on the night and again on rewatching. There is no way he won the 4th though.

As emphatic as this victory was, rewatching the fight was interesting actually. Outside of the knockdowns some of those rounds were better contested than what I remember. It was quite fascinating.

AJ crossing his legs whilst circling on the outside was a terrible look though. I was shocked to see that, and no less shocked when rewatching. That’s boxing 101.

 

I remember thinking that Joshua wasn't fluid enough and could work on his footwork to glide like Ali, but he isn't that kind of boxer, and would have to completely change his style. He was a little too flat footed and not mobile enough. I wanted him to jab and circle on the outside, but he's not that kind of fighter.

 

How in the world did these judges have the first two round for AJ

 

Yeah, I mean regardless of how Joshua wants to fight stylistically, or whether that style suits him etc..one way or another his feet should never be crossing together the way they were the other night. From the first round onwards. I’ve never seen him look ungainly like that on his feet.

 

Joshua was beffudled by Ruiz' speed, he was pawing with the jab because to do anything more with it would have Ruiz counter it hard.
The fight reminded me some of Jacobs not having the speed or timing to find Canelo.

For as big a reach as Joshua had though, he could have pumped his jab out hard and defended incoming with his right, but it just looked like he wasn't prepared to do any of that.
I'll prepared and no plan B and so Ruiz took him apart.

 

I have to admit I had them in his favour too.

The first round mainly because it APPEARED that he was boxing to a plan and was landing nice jabs. Ruiz got a couple of flurry type shots in but Joshua looked composed and did a good (enough) job with his jab.
In the second if I remember correctly things were getting more tense and Joshua landed a decent straight right or two. I can’t fully remember. They were tight rounds no doubt - Ruiz won his rounds wider for sure. But round by round I gave him the first two.

Hindsight is 20-20 and I can look at it now like he was fighting off the back foot being tentative and maybe wasn’t in control the way it appeared without the context of what happened next.

But yeah, they were very close rounds. As was the 5th.

 

As Juan Manuel Marquez said in an interview about the fight, if Ruiz wouldn't have knocked Joshua out, the judges would have gave the fight to Joshua because he's the name fighter. Marquez knows all to well because it happened to him vs Pacquiao.

 

This. Ruiz got caught with a couple jabs early but once he started slipping and counter it AJ pulled back and would quickly paw with it making it completely ineffective. He also didnt dare to throw an uppercut because he simply couldn't see that left hook coming and when he blocked it Ruiz would follow right up the middle with the straight and catch him. It was ugly.

 

I know I gave the first 3 rounds to Ruiz. The first ill give could've gone to AJ but no way id give him the second. Iirc Ruiz was backing AJ up in both rounds and while nothing big landed in the first two rounds I remember thinking Ruiz was the aggressor and had AJ on the defensive and then in the 3rd round all hell broke loose lol

 

I could only give AJ 1 round and that was a late shot in a slow round.

 

Seems clear proof to me that judges, at least these judges, are swayed by the names of the fighters.

 

i saw it all for ruiz aj had nothing

 

I've rewatched the 4th round several times and while Joshua was breathing heavily and on the backfoot the entire round, I don't have a problem with him winning the round. Joshua actually displayed a lot of high level footwork and defensive skill in this round. And he landed some nice counter punches. The cleaner work this round mostly came from Joshua, while Ruiz landed several shots to the chest and one to the ribcage, AJ landed a nice counter left hook, a straight right hand to the side of Ruiz's head, and a counter uppercut to the head, and got in some jabs to the body.

It was a pretty low output round for the most part, both fighters were just standing there pawing at each other for a good portion of the round. The idea that there's no way AJ won the 4th though is baloney. It was a very close and debatable round. You could give it to Ruiz for the shots he landed to the chest and ribcage, but aside from the one left hook he landed at the beginning in the midst of a barrage of punches mostly blocked by AJ, Ruiz landed nothing clean to the head for the rest of the round while AJ landed several clean shots to Ruiz's head and some shots to the body as well. I just did a round summary I'll post it in a bit.

Well see this highlights a problem not just in this fight but in many fights. You watch it again and were surprised at how closely contested the rounds were, rounds that you thought Ruiz had won for some reason. This happens to fans in many fights, they forget what actually happened in the rounds due to how it ended or the talking points coming out of the fight.

The rounds were close. Ruiz was getting shots in but AJ was working off the jab and trying to set traps and control Ruiz from range. Looking back the 4th was definitely a hard one to score, as AJ was definitely winning the round early but down the stretch Ruiz landed several shots to AJ's chest. But still I don't think those were better than the straight right by AJ and the counter left hook by AJ in the first minute. And it wasn't just those shots by AJ that impressed me. It was also the skill in parrying and avoiding many of Ruiz's shots. AJ may have given the round away by letting those couple shots to the chest get in late in the round, but there wasn't much in this round and both guys were taking their time for much of it.