I think we can safely rule out Fury and Whyte for now. I think IF AJ wins then we will see Pulev in April and it wouldn’t surprise me then to see Wilder vs Ruiz in May. Usyk vs Parker for the vacant WBO. Later in the year they will then try to unify with Usyk or chase the Wilder fight. If he loses I’d imagine an easy comeback fight and then someone like Whyte, Parker, someone highly ranked to try and manoeuvre a good mandatory position.
Oh OK, so I take it before the first fight he just sat around doing nothing, just waiting to turn up because the result was just a formality. You could argue the same for Ruiz, after all he had the same amount of time for the first fight also. Ruiz to be the Victor even easier this time around trust me.
Why is it being assumed that Joshua will need to vacate the WBO if he fights Pulev next as IBF mandatory? (If he can beat Ruiz of course) Don't the ABC orgs work together when there's a unified champion and take it in turns to enforce their mandatories? Klitschko managed to hold on to 3 titles for long enough. Although it might suit Joshua to drop the WBO if they see Usyk as too risky.
Usyk is too much of an unknown factor at heavyweight, he could end up being amazing and if so Hearn wont want AJ being his coming out party 6 months after AJ potentially gets through the Ruiz rematch. From Hearns point of view he has both of them, so he wont be looking to match them until it makez the most financial sense. Im fully expecting him to send Usyk off down the WBC route, Usyk has already mentioned wilders name. He will play it as safe as possible with Joshua, knowing the uk public will turn out for 2-3 mismatches The riskiest fight i see happening for AJ would be Whyte but ONLY if hearn can sign whyte to a multi fight deal.
AJ floored Ruiz, was away from home and something wasn't right with him before the first bell. Do I think AJ wins ?? Going with Ruiz still, but completely writing him off is silly.
The most obvious answer would be Pulev - but be interest to see if AJ can het himself 'up' for that fight. Given that he's already put a long camp in for Pulev a while back only for him to pull out and Takam to step in.
I think Wilder fighting Kownkaci after Ortiz in early next year is very likely to happen. Think Fury is off to the WWE & doing Christmas albums with Robbie Williams. Haymon wont allow Wilder to fight AJ or Whyte for as long as possible. So the next cherry picked boxer for Wilder with plenty of flaws, a very padded record and a PBC fighter in Kownacki seems a Haymon move. It would also explain why Kownkacki turned down the career high purse to fight AJ if he has been promised a Wilder fight after Ortiz.
You cant write him off completley but a turnaround would be one of the most impressive rematch performances i could think of. Im in two minds about there being something wrong with him, he did look disinterested pre fight but tbh once the bell rang i saw the same old AJ in there, Ruiz just capitalised on his mistakes as opposed to say a povetkin or klitschko who was too wary, or a whyte who was too gassed. The KO against klitschko papered over a lot of cracks, and Joshuas subsiquent fights showed no sign of improvement for me. I dont think hes improved since beating Charles Martin and in some ways i think he's worse, he had a swagger and self belief back then which klitschkos right hand banged out of him. He was still skating by on natural ability until he ran into ruiz where that wasnt enough and he needed a plan B which didnt exist. I think there was times in the Takam, Povetkin and even Parker fights where the wheels looked close to coming off, but those guys for various reasons couldnt keep the pressure up. Ruiz did and AJ folded. Personally i think hes got somewhere between Bob and No hope but if he does manage to do it ill give him tremendous credit.
Kownacki- while he fights a bit like a night club bouncer isnt an east night. He keeps rumbling forward punches with volume and some spite - his at times total lack of defence probably means Wilder will detonate something on him at some point but even so I can see Kownacki landing plenty of leather and give Wilder a ruff night in spots. I'm assuming Furys cut isnt going to heal as quick as they were saying it would post Wallin so he's off rassling to keep him fit, and busy and it won't hurt his profile state side one little bit. If AJ wins Pulev would be obvious. Loses it's hard to see where he goes. If Ruiz wins I can see Fury begging him for a fight before a Wilder rematch, Joe Parker will want another go against Ruiz but doesn't have the $$$ or profile to force a fight. Then Usyk is he going to go straight for the throat or is he going to want to go in against a del boy or someone below world class to get some more time in the ring
He was training for Miller. Ruiz jnr was on standby, training, but he knew he'd be facing AJ, just like Takam was for the Pulev fight. I'm not buying into Ruiz jnr being this unstoppable juggernaught, the bogeyman of the division, a KO machine. I believe that things will be different in December.
I agree I don't think he is the second coming of anybody either, but one thing is certain, he has Joshua's number. He beat him with relative ease last time even with the knockdown he suffered, this time and with more preparation and also the knowledge of being in there before with Joshua and stopping him the way he did just makes his job that little bit easier. Ruiz by clean knockout this time.
Usually in situations like this the rematch turns out to be the same. I think back to the money I made on Price vs Thompson II. For some reason I can’t think about this fight in the same way. I just think AJ beats him 2nd time round. I would not be surprised if I’m wrong and I’m not sure I’m thinking rationally beyond thinking AJ won’t be underestimating Ruiz this time. I’m tempted to have a punt on Ruiz by stoppage again.
I think I’ve mentioned this on here before but it would be interesting to see whether the rematch following an upset usually does go the same way or not.
