To save typing, Rummy... https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/not-confident-on-ruiz-jr.636166/#post-20053637 AJ by decision or late stoppage.
I have a funny feeling that AJ will be very conservative and fight off the backfoot for large stretches. Probably going to be a largely boring fight with AJ prodding the jab out and Ruiz trying to light AJ up and getting smothered. AJ on points. I'm hoping Ruiz knocks him out though.
Any fighter can be beaten, thats boxing, but the manner in which Ruiz won has me worried for joshua and if he isnt worried, he should be. Speed kills. Hes too fast for AJ, who didnt seem to know what to do when faced with it. Couple that with Ruiz being a decent puncher who has shown he can hurt AJ , and it doesnt bode well for him. Like Rummy said in the video, thats not to say AJ cant win but he needs major adjustments to his game which im not so sure hes capable of. He may have the gameplan to box at distance but has he the discipline to follow it through for 12 trounds? Im taking Ruiz to win again in similar fashion, maybe a little longer, 8 or 9 rounds
Ok. I think it was clear from watching the fight that he never recovered. Certainly not in that round and not afterwards either. He was talking to his cornermen like he didn't know where he was..
He fought on pretty even terms after the third round. In the sixth, he basically checked out after taking some body punches. He stopped throwing punches completely. He tried to land something big in the 7th and was done when it didn't work. Ruiz's tactics after the third round won him the fight. He could've ended up like Wlad if didn't go to the body like that.
Cant help but think joshuas bubbles burst. Massive shock losing to ruiz. This is a guy that was meant to be a one off. The best since mike tyson. Ruiz miles overweight made him look like an amatuer in there. I think miller might have beat him as well. Hearn made a mistake taking on the heavy guys like miller and ruiz. As someone said above weight is weight at the end of the day. Their both heavy guys that are durable. Bad style for joshua. Ruiz did catch him and totally changed the fight with it...but there was signs before that joshua was struggling a bit with ruiz,s hand speed. I still dont really get the joshua tactics. The backfoot fightings negating his strengths too much. To me he shouldnt be giving ground to anyone. He should be stalking his opponents working on opening them up or planting his feet and letting opponents come onto him. Joshua has great power. And a decent jab when hes not backing off with it. He could hurt any heavyweight in the world. Especially when an opponents coming on to him. Its like robs more worried about his weaknesses and with it forgetting about his massive strengths. One two,s without having a fantastic judge of distance will only get you so far.
Doesn’t matter who wins because boxing fans lose. Let’s set aside the horrible location choice and it’s questionable history of, well morality or ethics, or human rights violations. Let’s set aside that there is no way there will be legit P.E.D. testing. This is a defining moment in boxing. It should take place where boxing fans who support those two are. UK, US or even Mexico, not somewhere that gets Eddie Hearn bribes and under the table cash into his pocket. Just my two cents.
Great analysis as always. My 2 penneth. I would have to go strongly with Ruiz. Joshua is very vulnerable and has been for a while, the WK fight brought it home for him and he has been ultra cautious since. In his own mind he knows that he is one good shot away from being stopped, and it has shown in his performances since the Wlad fight. Ruiz confirmed this for him, and to be fair to Ruiz he beat Joshua with ease even with the knockdown he took himself. I dont believe AJ wins this for one minute, he can box a good boring fight keeping it long etc but at some point he will be in a position where either he opens up or is forced too, and when that happens its game over for me. My prediction is a Ruiz win earlier and more impressive and convincing than the first fight. Round five stoppage.
Well, we'll have to disagree. To me it was clear from what he said in the corner between rounds that he was out of it and he never looked recovered during the rounds either.
I just cant pick this one until Ruiz steps in the scales. As for Joshua, he's aura is gone, and I think he's going to be a gun shy fighter. He's already a tad stiff, he cannot fix his chin, and his defense is just so-so. He still has a cannon and he'll need to land it early and often to get Ruiz to back off. If Joshua gets his jab going ( a big if ) he can win this on points. Joshua wasn't sparked by one punch early. It was several and Ruiz's fast hands can get to him.
