If AJ fights safety-first and wins a stinker ...

Just has to win.

 

If AJ can keep Ruiz on the end of a man all night without the help from the referee then full credit to him.

He HAS to go that way right? He lost pretty much every exchange last time so he would be silly to fight up close.

 

I think he's got a dilemma either way.
I actually figure going for an early KO would be a marginally better idea.
He hit Ruiz some monster punches in the first fight and knocked his head back, knocked him down once and stopped him in his tracks once or twice .... yeah, I know Ruiz brushed it all off and kept coming .... but it's conceivable that Joshua could put together some perfect long range combinations to get Ruiz out of there.
I wouldn't count on it. But I'd give him a better chance of being capable of that than actually being capable of outboxing Ruiz and dictating a long range boxing match, round after round after round.

 

Yeah i hear what you're saying but everytime Joshua landed on ruiz he had about 3 or 4 shots coming back and he always looked in trouble. One of Joshuas strengths has always been his judgement of distance, if you could add good fundamentals onto that then you are halfway there with him imo. As you said though, is he capable of that? Im not sure but i still think its his best crack at victory.

 

If they were talking about a couple of tune-ups and then the rematch 12 or 18 months down the line then definitely that's his best crack at victory.
I just can't see him making those improvements in a few months and then applying them under massive pressure in an immediate rematch.
But you're dead right too .... if he goes for the early KO, he's likely to be counter attacked and beaten up again, and worse.
It's a dilemma.

If he wins either way I'll be very impressed.

 

I feel like they have been working on it for a couple of years now so it's not a completely foreign concept to take on board. Whether it's the correct route to take is another thing but there is no way, should he win, AJ beats fury with that style.

 

The only way Joshua beats Ruiz is with an Uzi.

 

His best method to victory will be to move around the ring flicking a jab at ruiz and grabbing hold of him/ the uk ref separating them whenever they get close.

If he's to open up it will need to be late in the fight, when Ruiz fought Parker rounds 9, 10, 11, 12 ruiz fat gut came into play, he started huffing and puffing and Parker started opening up and pulled away on the cards.

Joshua realistically needs to win 4 rounds and stay on his feet to have a >50% chance of winning a decision.

His chin is total glass so he has to avoid getting hit by ruiz at any costs because even though ruiz isn't a big puncher at all he's got more than enough to have AJ scrambling around on all fours.

For what it's worth AJ has like a 10% chance vs Fury or Wilder we all know that now so best for him is win this fight by any means and then take whatever option is the best money.

I don't think AJ will be any sort of factor in 18 months as ot of guys who beat him are coming through fast.

 

I think people are forgetting AJ was probably two or three decent punches away from stopping Ruiz. (No AJ fan here, never been on the train).

 

Pretty much every heavyweight is 2 or 3 decent punches away from stopping somebody.

Ruiz ate a huge right hand when he got up and didn't seem hurt by it.

 

115-113 x 2 and 114-114. Parker never pulled away on the scorecards. It was neck and neck and that was the first 12 round fight Ruiz had done. I have no problem with 7-5 either way or a draw but I’ve seen a couple of references now to Parker dealing with Ruiz with ease. It was razor tight that fight and could have gone either way.

Also, your suggestion in the first paragraph is exactly what Joshua did in the first fight and not only was flicking the jab out not working, he was absolutely knackered on top of that. He kept getting caught flat footed as a result.

Imo he needs to use his size and stature to hold the centre of the ring and fire off the double jab from the shoulder, unlike the first fight where he flicked it up from the waist like Josh Kelly. It was an invitation for Ruiz to go right in on the inside. Hold the centre of the ring, bang out the double jab, set traps & eventually starch him. Easy said than done.

 

Joshua can't hold center ring imho as his jab is weak and won't become a ramrod jab overnight. It won't deter ruiz and trading punches Joshua is inferior to Ruiz.

I think clinching like his life depends on it up close us about his only route.

As for parker/ruiz I had it about 7-5 maybe 7-4-1

I felt after 4 rounds Parker was fairly comfortable the rest of the fight. Ruiz supposedly having no chance resulted in the robbery cries because he done "pretty well"

Ruiz is a little bit of a one trick pony although it's a good trick, and once Parker knew what ruiz was up to he handled him and Ruiz had no other ideas than try to plod into range and throw like a madman imo

 

Yep.
Possibly the best punch Joshua landed was that monster right hand right after Ruiz got up.

Joshua landed some very hard solid punches in the fight, which I suppose is both encouraging and discouraging. Ruiz is hittable and Joshua can bang, but Ruiz seems durable enough to take Joshua's best when he has to.

 

It'll depend when the knockdown comes.

It was 3rd round but if Ruiz got hit with that same combo in the 10th or 11th it's probably a different story than when he's fresh.

I fully predict a Ruiz rematch win but I won't be shocked if AJ does ko him the second time around. It's definitely a possibility.

People say Joshua never hurt him and it was an off balance knockdown, ruiz himself said he asked God to help him get up and he wouldn't have done that if he wasn't hurt at all.

Two flawed fighters here.

 

Didn't Lennox box Tua in exactly the same way?

'Safety First'