Historical Comparison of Joshua rebounding like he did ..

Think you misunderstood. We were talking about Ali's style in the ring, not his training.

If you want to do that, sure. But it was through them that these method gained recognition.

 

Sure, Ruiz will never win Mr Universe, but If one looks how he performs in the ring I see nothing pathetic at all. Quite the contrary. While he isn't Jirov, his stamina hasn't really been an issue in his two losses. If anything he was the one coming on stronger in the closing stages against Parker. And he has good technique, very fast hands, good pop in his punches, good chin and also seems quite physically strong. In short while he looks to be terribly, terribly out of shape outside of the ring, he doesn't when he's actually fighting.

I'd favour him over Galento and Cockel every day of the week and would also favour him over Mathis, if we're comparing him to fat contenders. If we're comparing him to fat title holders, I think he looks pretty good against Tubbs and Toney as well.

 

I think Douglas defence against Holy was far worse than Ruiz against Joshua, for what it's worth.

 

Ruiz can only move side to side for defense. He has no way of closing the gap on good fighters because he’s to fat to duck under jabs ( Tuas problem). People love the heavy guys but it’s absolutely useless the extra power if you lose the ability to close the distance and have endurance enough to to hang with the better fighters (Ruiz endurance looked ok because he barely threw any punches). He looks fast because he only throws in small bunches as opposed to keeping a nice pace. Not impressed at all. The man has the best chin though of all contenders at the moment and would probably give Wilder nightmares but wilder would never fight him.

 

Yes, he can fight and that's the bottom line. There have been plenty of contenders and title holders who didn't have the stamina in the past. Holy is one of them. His showing against Bowe in the rubber was a disgrace if anything. That wasn't a title defence, though, but he was badly out of shape against Moorer as well. If it was a vd or overroiding, I don't know, but he didn't take care of himself right.

As for Ruiz, yes I'd like to see him come in slimmer and of course he can. But he will probably always be fat, no matter how hard he trains. Some are just like that. A couple of the best HWs in UFC for example - guys with wrestling background and at least one of them, Cain Velasquez, probably had the best cardio the sport has ever seen at that weight. Sure, he wasn't as fat as Ruiz, but he sure didn't look nearly as fit as he in fact was.

 

He was insanely brave, but he looked all wrong from the start it that fight.

It is disappointing that he came in even heavier for this fight than the last, even though he said himself he had weighed that morning about what he did in the last fight (I take that with a pinch of salt, though). And it should be said that several fighters and commentators thought it would be bad for him to come in lighter than last time when that seemed to be happening. I don't agree with that myself, but he would probably still be fat even in optimal shape.

 

I agree he will win both fights.

 

Joshua’s game plan won the fight, not his weight.

The fattest guy to win belts at heavyweight did it in 2019.

 

I think so as well, and I also agree that it's sad that Ruiz didn't show up in the best shape possible.

 

how funny I said the exact same thing Saturday after the fight.

 

Please..... Joshua didn't do anything spectacular against Ruiz who was 15 lbs heavier than the 1st fight.... Ruiz didn't give himself the chance to compete, he probably spent more time at Pizza Hut than at the boxing gym. This fight showed nothing for or against Joshua because his opponent wasn't prepared too fight. It's not Joshua fault. But giving him much credit for this victory is over inflating the significance of this win in my opinion.

 

How was Joshua meant to know that? Ruiz could have came into the rematch in better shape then the first.. Joshua most definitely agreed to an immediate and prepared for the Ruiz of the first fight , not the second.
Credit to him for accepting the fight against the guy a lot of people said had his number. Many guys in the past would have walked away or postponed it for a later date.

 

Most fighters in the past wouldn't have lost to Ruiz in the 1st place.

 

Oh, I agree entirely.
At this point in time, it’s a tit-for-tat success. Hence why the celebration perhaps needs to be tempered - for now.

Essentially, Joshua’s achievement on Saturday was the rescue of his career - I should imagine that a second loss To Ruiz Jr would have left his prospects in tatters.

Should Ruiz Jr come back from this and achieve more, in other regions of the Heavyweight top-10, then perhaps we will be able to reflect on Joshua/Ruiz I&II with additional favor.

 

You have to be a desperate Brit/Joshua "mark" to see this as some "historic" and legendary win. Really.

He looked like a frightened 13 year old in his first "Tae Kwon Do" tournament trying to score a few tap points and not get bruised up while flinching all the way. The fact that he inflicted literally no damage on a 280 pound Walking Food Cart and made no effort to even try and hurt him speaks volumes.

But, hey, if you want to rewatch the fight over and over like it's Rudy or something with tears of inspired joy streaming down your face and pledging you will someday model Joshua's heart and courage, feel free to dab a Kleenex in my name.