How does he feel now that the guy that was supposed be his changing of the guard guy carrying the torch is actually an overhyped dud? How does it make him feel losing to a guy who was brutally stopped by someone of ruiz caliber? Does he now realize how shot he actually was in that fight? I just can't vision any scenario where prime Wladimir loses to ruiz. It's not a dig at ruiz its just the truth.
What is Ruiz´s caliber? He barely lost to Parker and now demolished Joshua. Maybe... maybe he is a lot better than you are giving him credit for?
"Prime Wlad" is just hindsight as you describe. I could totally imagine Wlad losing to Ruiz. He lost to Sanders at 27-ish years old, in his 42nd fight, and in a very similar fight and for very similar reasons
Alot of people still giving Ruiz Jr absolutely no credit at all. He is arguably undefeated and banjoed AJ. So come on give him some credit
Who is AJ at this moment now we don't even know? He might not even be better than a Michael Grant. It can't be a coincidence now that Wladimir is washed up and finished that the whole division is competitive.
Prime Wlad in this era would be getting KO’d left, right and centre, especially outside of Germany where he couldn’t do his octopus routine on a bouncy castle.
By who? Wilder wouldn't do **** to him, Povetkin didn't. Pulev didn't. Joshua wouldn't. Fury Couldn't. Ortiz is Wank and Whyte wouldn't be able to.
Your post would make sense if prime Wlad never lost in a similar fashion to similar level operators but he did. Imo Ruiz jr. is better than all the guys Wlad lost to except for Fury and maybe Joshua ( rematch will give us the answer ).
AJ will comeback, but he is going to have to run the risk of his football hooligan fan base if he wants them belts back. He’s going to have to fight safety first, throw only when the time is right and protect chin and preserve stamina at all costs. It’s a bit of a lose-lose situation on his marketability, much like when Wlad totally changed from bombing people out to the safety jab.
Wlad didn't have a torch in 2017. Fury kicked him out of his throne in 2015 and put out his torch. Young Joshua and Old Wlad were just stand-ins for the 'new' champion Fury, who turned his back on boxing and life during the time. Wilder was already WBC champ for 2 years prior to Wlad-Joshua too, albeit one who took on lousy challengers, he was there and undefeated. Joshua is neither a dud nor an era torchbearer. He's a good fighter though. Ruiz Jr. is a good one too.
Yeah, I consider Ruiz Jr. clearly better than Brewster and Purrity, and a bit better than Sanders too. As you rightly imply, Ruiz Jr. could well be proven better than Joshua in another fight's time too.
Perhaps "Ruiz' caliber" is a lot higher than most gave him credit for and Joshua isn't an "overhyped dud."
That's often the problem imo. Many don't seem to have no middle ground. You're either "the man" or you're a complete waste of time. I mean, if you're ranked in the top 10 you're at the very least decent and usually a lot better than that. We may not like the fighter in question, but that's our own problem, not his.
