Have any Heavyweight (or other weight class) greats ever won an upset rematch by running or attempting to just do what was required to win by whatever means necessary? I can’t think of any off the top of my head. I think all, bar none, came to seek and destroy.
Probably best analogy would be Pep-Saddler II. Pep got blasted out in their first fight, then boxed masterfully, and stayed away from, Saddler's power in the rematch 4 months later.
Only 4 HWs in history have avenged a loss in the immediate rematch, Joshua is one of them. Most upsets go unavenged or are put off for a later date
I'm not having AJ ran, he boxed and moved, you have to give him and his team credit for completely changing his style and attitude all inside 4-5 months, it is impressive. Was it exciting? not really Was it entertaining? Somewhat What is boxing? Absolutely Does AJ deserve credit? Absolutely Look, I picked Ruiz in both fights, I was wrong last night and I tip my hat to AJ and his team who prepared him. Rob McCracken was slaughtered and blamed for the defeat so it's only fair he gets a lot of credit now for getting AJ in that sort of shape to be able to do that for 12 rounds and keep him disciplined.
Boxers who won the world heavyweight title back in an immediate rematch: Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, Anthony Joshua
Yeah I made a similar note before the fight. That Joshua/Ruiz II would mirror the rematches of other historic HW upsets. History was not on Ruiz's side.