Back in the olden days, if a highly rated fighter gets embarrassed by B+ grade fighter, the highly rated one would take a tune-up to be sure his confidence is totally restored. If AJ goes immediately into a rematch, it will be "Round 8", and the 260 lb now Hvyweight Champ will be in the other corner getting ready to resume fistic festivities.
Yes, and then swerve the rematch and face Wilder or Fury instead, make a lot of money, and retire after he gets KTFO or schooled and TKOd by whichever one he chooses to fight.
I don’t think so, an immediate will be huge and it’ll give Ruiz a chance to prove right away that his win wasn’t a fluke and he should be taken seriously as a champion.
All conventional boxing wisdom points to it, but there is far too much at stake in the AJ brand to be seen to be taking the easy route, which was at peak velocity prior to Saturday.
Well, there have been a lot of heavyweight champions, and only three men have come back from a loss to beat the man who took his title in an immediate rematch. (Patterson, Ali and Lewis) Floyd Patterson waited a whole year and corrected his mistakes before fighting Ingemar Johansson again. He was the first to ever do it. And his loss (seven knockdowns) was probably most similar to Ruiz-Joshua compared to Ali-Spinks II or Lewis-Rahman II. Those three are the rare exceptions, though. No one else in the heavyweight division pulled it off ever. Though many tried. Staying with Patterson, when Ingo demanded an immediate rematch with Patterson, the Swede got stopped again. Then Patterson lost to Liston in one and wanted an immediate rematch, and failed even more miserably (dropped three times in one round). Liston got an immediate rematch against Ali and went down in one and was almost run out of the sport. Some guys who get an immediate rematch often do a little better but still lose, like Larry Holmes appearing to outpoint Spinks in their rematch only to lose the decision. Or Weaver and Holyfield securing draws after losing their titles to their titles to Dokes and John Ruiz. Most do much worse in the quick return. Like Walcott going out in one in his immediate rematch with Marciano, or Tyson getting DQed against Holyfield in their return. Some former champs don't even win their first comeback fights after losing a title ... like John Tate against Trevor Berbick, Joseph Parker against Whyte, Hasim Rahman against Holyfield, Leon Spinks against Coetzee, Greg Page against Buster Douglas, Ernie Terrell against Thad Spencer, Bonecrusher Smith against Adilson Rodriques, Sergei Liakhovich against Nicolay Valuev .. to name a few. Even guys like Wlad, after getting knocked out by Lamon Brewster, barely survived his comeback fight with Davarryl Williamson. And George Foreman waited a whole year after losing to Ali, and in his first fight back was nearly destroyed by Ron Lyle. The point is, losing the heavyweight title can take more than just a physical toll. And it's generally not viewed as a wise move to come back a short five months later against anyone, let alone the guy who beat the hell out of you. We'll see, though.
Yes. Let Ruiz, Wilder, and Fury battle it out with each other and then maybe face the winner of those fights.
Oh hell yes. Rematch Wilder in a tune up fight, where he can't lose the belts. If he wins he gets the WBC, if not he loses nothing - then call in the beast Ruiz for the rematch.