Andy's discipline against Wilder's power. Tragic. I remember andy started filming his training camp for Ortiz and stopped after 1 day. Said he was going into the ring at 265 only to come in at nearly 270. More surprising than any result would be Ruiz showing up in shape.
Wilder uses his jab only to set up his cross. I don't see him jabbing Ruiz and playing around with speed and footwork (he even lacks the A and B of it). I just hope Ruiz takes his preparation seriously and we may see a good fight even Ruiz knocking out Wilder.
I could just see it now the Pupil popping Bug Eyed Deontay slapping a few jabs together & visibly looking around to see if anyone noticed his large improvement in Boxing department, But yeah Ruiz is angled perfectly for Wilder to land his one two, he definitely doesn't have to look very hard to find his target with Ruiz.
Vs which Ruiz is the question, certainly not the guy who knocked Joshua out. We see what Ruiz weights. No official call until then. Wilder has never shown a fight controlling jab not even vs his tier two opponents.
The jab is the winning formula for Wilder if he goes into the fight with that mentality in mind. On paper it looks like a mismatch in Wilder's favor, but the reality is that Ruiz's handspeed is the fastest that Wilder has ever faced. For a tall fighter with a big reach like Wilder, the formula to stop a faster handed fighter is to time and stick a good jab out. Asking Wilder to turn into Larry Holmes with that jab would be unreasonable, but against a fighter the height and reach of Ruiz, it does'nt have to be a great jab, just a good one to keep Ruiz at distance and unable to reach him with his fast hands. Whether Wilder actually works on that formula during training is a question mark as he's a fighter that likes to rely on hurting a fighter with one punch and thus is able to be outworked by better skilled fighters who rely on boxing skills.
Wilder doesn't need to be Larry Holmes, he just needs to act like the Wilder of the Stiverne fight. He did a great job slowing down and controlling the pace against a shorter aggressive opponent. Stiverne and Ruiz are basically the same size: 6'2 chunky aggressive dudes with decent power. Just stick the jab out with some oomph behind it, but don't be too lazy or predictable. Bring it back and don't leave it hanging to avoid getting countered. Use lateral movement, occasionally throw the double jab or jab to the body to keep the guy honest, then start throwing the right hand. Clinch whenever Ruiz gets close.
Agreed! Samuel Peter who has less than average boxing skills dominated one of the most skilled fighters in boxing history by just employing a stiff straight jab. Peter even floored Toney with that jab. Toney was helpless trying to cope with Peter's jab.
Of course Wilder can win comfortably behind his jab, but I don't think he really needs to - if he comes out slugging instead, I back him to find Ruiz and stop him.
Wilder has done that vs several heavyweights and been outboxed in the process. Ruiz has never been stopped so by Wilder coming out hunting for a KO opens up the only door Ruiz has for victory. If Wilder employs the jab, he keeps Ruiz at distance and unable to use the advantage he has on Wilder which is speed. The older a fighter gets and Wilder is older now, the more to incorporate your physical advantages in a gameplan to offset the opponents physical advantages against him. The older a fighter gets, the less they're able to cope with a younger fighters speed. Wilder imo should'nt give Ruiz that chance.
Wilder is actually the one person I think could actually stop Fat Andy TBH. I don't see this as a good style matchup for him.