If he wins the rematch we can say there's no point in tune-up fights. But if he gets KO'd again, everyone will see the sense in tune-ups. Being KO'd twice in a row by the same guy might end his career. But if he was to get some wins under his belt in the meantime (and, no, they don't have to be bums or Schwarz level. They can be decent contenders), his confidence and momentum will be reinviograted and he can have 2 or 3 extra training camps to learn and develop before facing Ruiz again. .... AND make some money while doing it .... and in that case, even if he loses again to Ruiz, it's not as bad as losing twice in a row this year. It he wants to take the risk, good luck to him. If he wins, it will be more impressive. But for a man who talks about being another 10 years in the game, the tune-up approach makes a lot of sense.
I’m not anti matchroom mate, I couldn’t care less either way about the politics side of it, but i strongly disagree that Joshua was having success that fight prior to the knockdown. He looked very uncomfortable fighting the smaller man, much like he did against Povetkin 9 months prior to that before he eventually gassed. If you go back 8 years you see him struggling against a stylistically (to Ruiz) very similar fighter in Nistor. He did fantastic scoring that knockdown, his footwork meant that he caught Ruiz with his feet standing square, but let’s not come away from the facts...it was a flash knockdown, Ruiz still had his senses.
I don’t get all this talk about AJ having it easy in the first two rounds before he got caught. I didn’t see it that way, to me those rounds were a precursor to what happened, he was getting caught and actually staggered in round two. The technical issues were there from the start. I see both sides, and he is taking the more exciting route rather than slowing everything down by rebuilding, buts it's very dangerous for him career wise. I Can’t help but think he is now in a ridiculously high pressure situation where it could all go south. Maybe he is a lot stronger mentally than I ever realised, if he pulled it off it would rank as impressive as Lewis’s immediate rematch victory after he got flattened by Rahman.
His mental strength is so strong given that he proposed to Hearn that they do the rematch in MSG in order to "right the wrong". But time will tell whether it's true confidence or just misguided belief in himself.
'Road To Redemption' - Live on Sky Sports Box Office (Order Now) There's your headline for AJ's tune up or to put it another way one last fleecing operation before the potential end of the golden goose. Queue Eddie - 'Look, the rematch with Ruiz is a massive, massive fight that everyone wants to see but I think a lot of people in the boxing world are wondering how much Anthony has left, well this fight with Pulev will answer a lot of those questions. Will we see Anthony Joshua back to his best ?? Can Anthony take that first step towards reclaiming the heavyweight title ?? We'll find out on Saturday, what a momentous occasion it will be, 80,000 fans watching their hero return.' Adam Smith turns and looks at the camera with that solemn, serious expression he has 'What a massive, massive fight this will be, so many questions just waiting to be answered. Johnny back to you in the studio.'
Unfortunately for Joshua it's the social media age, also unfortunately for him he's now a former British golden boy who has fallen from grace. You add them together and he wouldn't be able to get away with fighting a stiff next. It's the rematch for him, he's going to have a very bad time of it, lose in humiliating fashion again and take his place next to David Price as an exciting unfercard filler. He's already become a joke to the casuals, I saw a guy fall over outside a club on the weekend and his mate shouted "you went down like joshua" and everyone cracked up laughing. If Joshua was 22, 23 and lost to Ruiz he'd have time to rebuild and come back but not at 30 and needing to fix his entire game, he's basically a heavyweight khan but replace speed with power. Very similar flaws imo.
Same it's total nonsense, Ruiz jr started picking him off from the first round, everything went to plan for Ruiz jr other than an off balance knockdown, he lured Joshua in, took his best shots flush on the chin, laughed at them and beat the shite out of Joshua and made him QUIT. How anyone can watch that first fight and give Joshua anything more than a couple of % chance in a rematch I have no idea. Ruiz jr looked superior in every department.
Jumping straight back in with Ruiz Jr makes sense for AJ if he knows he had an off night, and can ensure the rematch is in the UK. However, if he gets banj'oed again then that is his career effectively over. It will be a long hard road back to the top with two devastating losses to a guy that most people considered only as borderline top 10 prior to the fight. He will probably suffer psychological issues too, if he loses again. It didnt work out well for David Price rematching a KO loss straight away, and historically it is not the best move.
I think in an ideal world this is what would happen. However they can’t do that as Ruiz is a Haymon fighter. Due to the TV war between Showtime/fox, DAZN and ESPN Ruiz and the belts are key for Haymon to make Wilder the undisputed champ and have him in his networks as having the heavyweights tied up is the biggest division in boxing. The only time AJ gets his belts back is by doing it now whilst he has Ruiz contractually. Haymon will not allow a tune up as he will see AJ as vulnerable now. Therefore although it makes sense to have a tune up. For AJ it’s now or lose those belts for a long long time and with it potentially the bigger split in the future Wilder and Fury fights.
Tony Dosh PPV can wipe his arris with £100 notes for the rest of his life and is extremely grateful to the PPV Mugths as money not an issue for him. Splits really should be way down the list of priorities for the Humbled One after the Fatty Fudge Fiasco. The opponent more interested in banana splits outside the ring. Although I don't think Tony Dosh PPV was anywhere close to the talent of Iron Mike Tyson, there is a real chance that his career follows the same sad path once he was defeated. Matchroom have manufactured pay per puddings and the ppv mugths have been reeled in big time thinking their watching all time greats. Any buyers of Pudding Whyte on PPV must be the thickest mugths around - don't even think the Yanks would fall for that one.
Supply and demand mate - until the mugths wake up, people will be milked as much as possible. It is disgraceful that existing subscribers of Sky Sports and BT Sports are fleeced extra for boxthing. Surely even the thickest PPV mug wakes up and thinks WTF am I doing forking out £20 for the Lineal Pudding title between Pudding Whyte and Pudding Rivas
This exactly. I realised I was spending a fortune each year on PPV's that aren't even worth the money, so i've now started to explore alternate methods of viewing... Will pay if it's worth it however, though that likely won't be very often.
