Ruiz won't be stopped early or in the mid rounds. I don't think Joshua 's team will have that tactic in mind either. Not unless the bodybuilder wants to get stopped again. Expecting a boring points win in the rematch.
in the rematch, if ruiz has any sense he will be cracking joshua to the body alot and trying to get inside and make it dirty
I’m not convinced Joshua has learnt from this defeat, lads. He’s passed this defeat off as a lucky punch. ‘The meat wasn’t cooked, it wasn’t ready to take out the oven’ or whatever analogy he used. I’ve not seen anything from him since June 1st that makes me think he’s going to win the rematch. He’s treated the defeat like it’s a practical thing, like he’s lost his keys or something. I’m not seeing that emotion...maybe that’s a good way of dealing with it and i’m just being harsh. Ruiz looks supremely confident though. He proper, 100% believes he’s going to do the job again. You can see it in his demeanour, he believes he’s a real champion. Joshua said the belts didn’t define him....well, I think Ruiz feels defined by those belts. This is just an opinion. Joshua might chin him in 2 rounds, but my head is saying Ruiz bounces him again.
Hearn said today that he will look to put HWs on the undercard. Hearn said it will depend how Hunter vs Kuzmin goes. May look to make the winner fight Povetkin but Povetkin has had good offers come in since beating Hughie (I am assuming he means Joyce). Hunter vs Povetkin would be great. Hrgovic saying he expects to fight a big named opponent on the card too.
Joshua is coming across awkward in these interviews. I’m a fan but he seems like he doesn’t know how he should be conducting himself and probably wondering what the right thing to do is. He needs to realise he’s the real underdog in this fight, train hard and come up with a proper game plan to win no matter how ugly it is.
It will be interesting to watch the Gloves are Off that they’ve filmed, although I don’t know when they’ll make that available. You’d think ASAP.
Joshua has nowhere to go if he loses this one; of course a Whyte rematch will do big numbers but does he really want that work at this stage of his career? If he wins then he’s back on track for the big Wilder or Fury fight, but his confidence must be so shot now that he can’t fancy his chances of winning either of those. Seems like he’s just going along with what he’s supposed to do (what Eddie and Co tells him) as he himself doesn’t know what to do, but is in a state of denial about it all and is trying to convince himself that the first fight was a fluke. Would be convenient for the big man to get beat again and then disappear into obscurity with his millions and health mostly still in tact.
Joshua and team are in denial. Ruiz far superior fighter, can't see any way for Joshua to win a rematch short of Ruiz getting seriously lazy. The location is a cash grab by Hearn and the Logan Paul fight shows the desperate thinking going on, he's about to lose his cash cow and he knows it.
If, and it's a very unlikely result but if Joshua gets past ruiz, prepare for belts to be dropped and molina/brezeale type opponents for the next couple of years at least. Hearn will wring every penny out of AJ before putting him in a risky fight again. Every opponent will be hand picked after a LOT of consideration.
Andy Ruiz is a supremely confident fighter. AJ has been taught how to act like a supremely confident fighter might act. Chinny robot getting splattered worse second time around. I see him unravelling early and QUITTING again.
Whatever happens with AJ one thing you have to respect him for is stepping in with the best guys available. His resume surpasses all in the division. Fury and wilder talk big but there records suggest otherwise. Big respect to AJ win or lose. Sadly I feel Ruiz just has his number... can't cope with the hand speed. If he had gone a different route he might have been a 30 fight unbeaten champion. Ruiz is unique in his skill set and unfortunately for AJ he has no answer.
