To be honest i think one of the reasons they picked Saudi is because Josh plans on boxing very safe and ‘boring’, a capacity crowd may have got on his back if they did this in the UK and encouraged him to engage fully. Joshua UD.
… which by the way is exactly what would happen if we'd gotten Wilder over here to fight him. I have an exact premonition that AJ makes a mistake and Wilder KOs him Brezeale-style in 2 rounds.
Tough one to call. Unless Ruiz has got complacent, then he will fight like he usually does. The unknown here is Joshua. He has slimmed down and will clearly fight in a different fashion. As it is an immediate rematch, and he didn't have any warm ups to test out his new body and strategy, he really is a mildly unknown quantity. Due to the upset in the first fight, and Joshua, from the sounds of him, realising that he has to make genuine changes, this really is a very intriguing fight.
I'm sure he is going to fight off the backfoot and run and hold and pot-shot for most of the early rounds at least.
Loving the poll, everyone getting cold feet in backing Ruiz only a few weeks ago.. all the ruiz supporters were very vocal.... no word from AJ backers at All this forum is bipolar
"I'm sure he is going to fight off the backfoot and run and hold and pot-shot for most of the early rounds at least." I think he will do that all night Might be enough
Is Joshua a good enough boxer to pull off a Lewis vs Tua masterclass? Maybe it will be like Wlad vs Peter I with Joshua holding on for dear life. One thing is for sure, Ruiz will not be knocked out.
I lean slightly to Joshua in the rematch. He's going to play it safe and be more cautious this time, and despite the stylistic match-up I suspect he is just about good enough to pull off a UD a la Klitschko-Peter I. Now I'm not sure he actually has the stamina to do this for 12 rounds, so I won't be surprised if he gases and gets knocked out, or if Ruiz 's pressure eventually wears him down, or if the first fight has broken his confidence too much. But if i have to pick ii, I'll edge to Joshua.
I can't see a scenario where Joshua doesn't taste canvas again and the last fight suggests his punch resistance is in the toilet
Well, don't go for the kill then. The problem's solved. No, seriously, Joshua made a mistake of trying to finish Ruiz too early, to impress the public. In this fight he should avoid that and try to drag Ruiz into later rounds. Then either stop Ruiz late (if he's tired) or just win by decision.
Yeah I have little doubt that's the strategy, but will it work? Joshua is no Klitchko in my opinion. He had a good safety-first fight against a completely risk-averse Parker - and I know Parker beat Ruiz - but Ruiz will take the risks of creating war if he feels it slipping and as I say, how Joshua will hold up come that day, I don't know.
Logic dictates AJ is the favorite. I think he should win this. Bookies have it 1 for 3 for AJ, making him a solid favorite despite the humiliating loss the first time around.
Bookies odds are skewed by bets placed. They say little about the respective fighters chances of winning when there's a blatant fan-base type scenario in operation. You'd struggle to get long odds on AJ beating a T-Rex three weeks before a fight. Example: Eubank Jr v Groves. Groves was 2-1 at one point, with Jr at something like 1-3. Garbage odds I gratefully cashed on.