Yes IMO. It would've been a very tense bout and could've eventually lead to the KO. Ruiz would've still been troubled by the movement anyway, but his work and workrate in general was embarassing tonight. Credit to Joshua here. Ruiz the lazy sod only has himself to blame.
Not different at all. Only way Ruiz can beat Stick And Move Joshua is to work on cutting off the ring. Otherwise, it'll be just like this again. Even if Ruiz comes in at 240 pounds. Too much size difference.
Well that was the only way Joshua wins. His team saw what happens when they exchange. Ruiz has an awesome chin. Doesn't matter how lighter he would be, in this condition Joshua is just with the better stamina.
He would have had a much better chance, but I still would have slightly favored Joshua in that case. Next time he should ask where Canelo orders his taco's, building some muscle instead of fat.
No, Ruiz is not known as a power puncher and more for speed. At 25 lbs less he’d gain a little more speed and less power but he’d still be defenseless against AJ’s reach and jab. He’d have to hope for another lucky concussion punch to win.
Ruiz coming in fighting shape would have made quicker with better stamina. He would have forced AJ to fight out of the pocket more Ruiz could have bagged a couple of rounds in
Anyone who knows how to be cagey and box defensively and has the stamina to do so for 12 is going to be a nightmare for Ruiz unless he really focuses on speeding up his feet. I picked him to beat Joshua because I didn’t think Joshua was capable of adopting that style in such a short period of time and mentally overcoming such a devastating loss. Ruiz is nearly unbeatable in close range exchanges, but there’s a reason he dropped several rounds to old Kevin Johnson years after Joshua destroyed him in 2.
I don't think so. AJ changed a lot, losing the muscle helped him, changing styles and sticking to his gameplan helped. Ruiz can't beat him again barring a come from behind KO.
Said before the fight, 268 to 283 is not a massive jump, it’s a 5% difference in weight. Even if that weight negatively effected his performance by 5% Ruiz would need much more than a 5% improvement to beat the AJ he faced tonight. I don’t see any version of Ruiz getting close to the version of AJ he fought tonight.
No. Joshua's team realised that Ruiz's success comes from countering Joshua. By sticking to a jab orientated game plan they removed the majority of Ruiz's opportunities to launch counter attacks. JMM had the same issue when people didn't initiate the action.
It could be different. Ruiz could cut the distance faster and would have more chances to land some combos.
