If you scroll down on here the pie chart shows you where the money is going. It doesn’t tell you exact percentage but it looks to me like 55% Ruiz 5-10% Draw and 35-40% backing Joshua so imagine Ruiz’s odds will shorten somewhat by fight night. https://www.oddschecker.com/boxing/andy-ruiz-jr-v-anthony-joshua/winner
Ruiz was 26.0 in the first fight and no one wanted to back him. He's now 3.2 in the rematch and it seems everyone wants to back him.
A lot of big heavyweight upsets don’t necessarily result in the same decision though. Rematches of close fights can often mean the favourite first time wins again, but I’d say more often than not when a guy who was Joshua’s odds loses the first they win the second. Lewis Rahman springs to mind.
Yeah, but AJ wasn’t caught by a Hail Mary from nowhere and splattered on the canvas, he was outthought and outfought. He got battered. I’d prefer AJ to win but my head says this has more in common with Price vs Thompson than Lewis vs Rahman. I’m putting a cheeky £25 on Ruiz by KO/TKO/DQ
Been doing a lot of driving this week and have exhausted the podcasts to the point where I’ve just listened to the Toe to Toe Sky Sports pod...Christ on a bike. Andy Scott said that Ruiz could have thrown that same shot a hundred times and not hurt Joshua like he did in that fight, **** off you massive whopper. How biased is that? Yet he totally ignores the fact that both Whyte and Klitschko hurt Joshua big time with the left hook. It’s not a 100 to 1 shot, it’s a weakness in Joshua’s defence that fighters have tried to exploit.
Lots was said about Ruiz's "lucky" punch to AJ's top of head which had AJ losing equilibrium. I am translating "losing equilibrium" to "got hit hard in the head, in a place where it is really quite uncomfortable". Ruiz did exactly the same to just as tall Dimitrenko. Maybe he is lucky or maybe he is not. This content is protected This content is protected
This is going to be Price vs Thompson II all over again. Ruiz is Joshua's boogey man. 100% going to stick a few quid for Ruiz to win by KO. All said and done it won't stop me from cheering on Anthony Joshua, home he brings them belts back home!!!
AJ's undoing was he never really listened to McCracken. It seems to me like AJ doesn't want to box for 12 rounds he wants to go out and bash people up but the problem is his chin doesn't hold up at world level.
But arguably he’s better suited to trying to be that destroyer who goes out to bash up people. He has good handspeed, good power and throws good combos. He does not have a good engine, has limited head movement and for me that is not conducive towards a 12 round style.
I listened to Costello talking to Joshua on the 5live podcast. Costello asked him, if Ruiz is hurt like that again, what do you do differently? Joshua replied that he goes back in but doesn’t get caught this time....NOOOOO Joshua, you don’t go straight back in, you feel him out with the jab then go back in if he’s ready to go. I think Ruiz does him again. If Joshua won it would set up some mouthwatering fights with Wilder and Fury but I’m just not convinced he’s ready to take on a style like Ruiz at this point in his career. Ruiz will close that gap and let his hands go once again.
