- "He has fast hands" - "He moves very well" - "One hell of a chin" - "High ring IQ" - "Excellent infighting skills" How come no one said any of the above when they saw him vs. Dimitrenko, Johnson or Parker? Ruiz' skill is UNCHANGED from those fights. Respect where respect is due, Ruiz demolished AJ and is a legit HW champion now. However, I find it odd that people do a 180 on their analysis of a boxer's skill-set based on a win like that. Fantastic example of the halo-effect.
Yeah, but people's perceptions upon it changed based upon who he deploys it against, in this case, at worst, the HW ranked #3 in the world. It's one thing to see it deployed against limited opposition and in losing efforts against top opposition and successfully against top opposition. This has been the case for as long as there has been boxing. Additionally, there will be plenty of people on the forum that never saw Ruiz fight before last night.
I think a fair few of us recognized he had fast hands and decent boxing skills. It was mentioned. I certainly remember his hand-speed being noted by many postors here. I didn't give Ruiz much chance at all simply because he seemed too small - he has short arms, and isn't exactly fast on his feet. I thought Joshua would be able to keep it at long range and win the fight. So, it's a surprise he won.
It feels weird quoting my own post but this was a post I made on the 19th of May giving my insights on Andy Ruiz when I heard he was announced as Joshuas next opponent.
Great job at recognizing that.. tbh AJ should have sparred Amateur CWs to prepare for the speed of Ruiz because he was totally unprepared for that.. Also he was breathing hard in the second round so it’s time to drop some muscle mass.. His lack of head movement and upper body fluidity is why a lot of people felt Wilder would always KO him.. He has to find his Emmanuel Steward the same way Lennox and Wladimir did to adjust his style
You were clearly right and I was wrong on our assessments of Ruiz, I underrated him to be honest. But I still don't think he is as good as last nights fight showed. Clearly if you stand right in front of him and trade your going to get lit up, Parker was smart to not try and blow him out and was prudent in when he should attack. Joshua last night in contrast dropped him but not badly and then just when toe to toe with him and paid the price. Ruiz took his chance when others lacked the self belief and boy did it pay off big time for him. But against a fighter than keeps it long and moves then I think he struggles.
One of the deciding factors was Ruiz's tenacity in his exchanges with Joshua. Fighters typically go into a defensive shell or moved away when Joshua was unloading. Ruiz ferociously punched with Joshua and continued punching when Anthony stopped. He stole Joshua's heart .
In defense of this I put Ruiz at 10 on top 10 list bc the fact he was fighting AJ and some like Parker ( he won that fight) were stale. I will NOT be putting Ruiz at number one ...lol...sorry but no. Id probably move him to top 5 ? IDK, it's blatently obvious theres still levels here, just like I wouldn't put Buster douglas over M. Tyson if they were around today. lol Ruiz going to really have to show me it weasnt an off night for AJ as bias as it is,its just reality. @ those debating with me on Ruiz vs Kownacki...do you see now why I got Ruiz in THAT one ? lol
Not what I said. I said he had more chin, skill, power, and handspeed than Joshua. It was tongue in cheek though because he has T-rex arms.
Ruiz has always had amazing combos, speed and great chin but he was better defensively than I thought vs AJ
In fairness the only one we didn't know about for sure was his chin. It could've been half decent but now he know it's Very good We knew he had fast hands and good infighting tho
