It doesn't matter what he said in his interview. After Oscar had beaten Forbes, it was there to be made. They were negotiating it when he suddenly retired, stating that he'd had enough of fighting and he was retiring for good. The "Money" man who boasted that he was in the "cash chequing business" walked away from millions of dollars. Yet he then returned the following year to fight JMM.
Countered with what? Ruiz got up from Joshua's power and then proceeded to stalk him. Andre Ward is a former SMW who only ever possessed respectable power at the weight. How could he stop Ruiz's onslaught?
Ward hits hard enough to make Ruiz reset and throw his timing off. With the difference in footspeed, that may be all that's needed.
Andre would have zero power at HW. His great ability would cause Ruiz some issues, but in a 36 min fight, he wouldn't be able to stop Ruiz from catching up and hurting him. He'd have to cover up, and Ruiz would just keep pummelling away, scoring points in the process.
There's no such thing as "zero power". You don't think that the right hand Ward hit Kovalev with would at least get Ruiz's attention? Ruiz is not some superman, if timed and hit in the right place, he can get hurt too.
Not really. Did you not see him eat AJ's shots? It's nothing to do with him being Superman. It's the power, size, the will and the pressure. A horrible mix for a former SMW who doesn't possess blinding speed or big power. Ruiz is like Corrie Sanders. He's not the greatest HW of all time, but he's not deterred by anything. Sanders went toe to toe with Vitali. Ruiz stalked AJ after getting dropped. Ward could pinch a few rounds, but over 12, he'd have nothing to hold him off. Roy Jones was much faster than Andre at HW, and he had more power and was harder to hit. Yet I don't think Roy could have pulled out the win.
Roy was more talented than Ward but he wasn't as smart and didn't have the beard that Ward has. If he was as smart and took a punch as well as Ward, I would definitely pick him over Ruiz. Ruiz has pretty good wind but I wonder how he would hold up chasing after Ward for several rounds while getting his body worked. I just don't see things as cut and dry as you and others on this board.
I respect your opinion mate. I'm not trying to be argumentative. I just don't see it. I'm a huge fan of Andre's. But he hasn't got a great chin, and he'd be hit. Ruiz wouldn't have to chase after him. How elusive do you think he'd be at 200 pounds, after 2 years of inactivity? He'd get hurt.
I respect your opinion also. You can debate in a civilized fashion without getting personal and that seems to be a rare quality on this board. You are probably right about the outcome of such a fight and the inactivity of Ward would certainly play a role. I think Ward could get to about 205 and be in pretty good shape if he put the weight on gradually. Who knows? We might see this fight because Ward is pretty confident in his abilities and we know how hard it is for boxers to stay retired.
So do shots to small trunks by heavyweights, look what tiny Floyd`s shots did to Conor`s modelling thin body.
That right hand was nowhere near as powerful as the shots AJ dropped Ruiz with, do you think that right hand would have got Ali`s attention?
lol Mayweather got rid of McGregor when he got ready and tiny Floyd hit hard enough to keep Alvarez from just walking through him.
