Well AJ has had like 2-3 fights since, no? But he's already had two wins since that loss, and one of them was against the man who made him quit (apparently), so what does that tell you? You sound like a hater tbh. How come you never gave AJ credit for jumping back in there with Ruiz?
He certainly did quit. And once a quitter, always a quitter as they say. He was exposed and will quit again if a fight gets tough and he’s running out of ideas.
Running away from an even fatter little fatty was even more farcical than the 1st fight and Pudding Pulev a zero hope opponent in 2014 never mind a few days before 2021. (Copyright @Mitch87) All the questions about Joshua remain - I don't personally think he would want to know if Wilder hit him or Fury was boxing his head off.
I'm not a hater, I just say what I see, what I believe. I praise fighters I don't like if they do well and criticise fighters I do like if they do well, I'm picking Usyk but if AJ wins I'll praise him because it will be a good win. Anyway, AJ has fought Pulev, a 40 year old who went life and death with Chisora not so long ago and Pulev offered nothing, it took AJ how many rounds to stop him? How many uppercuts? How many right hands? Dubois would have caved Pulevs face in within a few rounds. AJ isn't the puncher he is made out to be, tell me the last time AJ knocked somebody out clean with a single punch? As for Ruiz II, Ruiz turned up totally out of shape, looked disgusting, AJ "the beast" circled the ring, ran around, didn't engage and won a comfortable decision. Let's also remember an old, way past any best Arreola had Ruiz in far more trouble, far far more trouble than AJ ever did. So it was hardly a great performance and not an opponent in anywhere near fit.. sure not AJs fault, not AJs problem. And for AJ "apparently" quitting.. well he wasnt counted out, he was dropped 4 times, decided to stand in the corner and not continue. In my opinion he quit, Ruiz beat the fit out of him, he was gassed, he was beaten up and didn't want any more.. that's a quit job.
Usyks speed for a cruiserweight was insane, all crusierweights are fast but he made most of them look robotic and slow. Let's not forget he beat good undefeated champions during the wbss tournament , these were no past their best fighters in the twilight of their career, these were champions in their prime and he made them look average, his skill set is on a completely different level to joshua who i think even with coming in light is going to be 2nd to the punch everytime. People seem to keep coming back to the usyk vs chisora fight and comparing chisora to joshua and hiw the fight will go, but the fact is the only reason chisora didn't get stopped is because he has a great chin, you rarely see chisora hurt in fights but usyk hurt him many times. I actually think joshua is a bit gun shy at the moment after the ruiz fight, in the 2nd fight he barely engaged and against pulev he covered up a lot before finding the finish. Usyk is going to stop him, Joshua's suspect chin / heart will fail him again!!!
Agree with you about being gunshy. I wasn't impressed with either of those performances at all, in fact at times he looked like someone with no confidence, especially against Pulev. I think Usyk can stop him but Joshua does have that one punch power, if he lands with a big uppercut, I can see him taking Usyk out if he hurts him. For me Usyk is just going to put him under relentless pressure, it's for me all really about if Usyk takes the power off any clean shots. If he does then he wins for me (cumulative punch stoppage)
Big Josh's demeanour this week tells me the man may be having sleepless nights. Couple of points, Josh was asked something along the lines of "how do you prepare for a fighter like BRUTHA USKY?" and he answered something like "you know what, we just focus on what we do, you become a product of your environment, you understand me?" which I took to mean he isn't interested or concerned by what a BRUTHA from behind the IRON CURTAIN brings to the table, instead he will just "be the big stiff chinny weightlifter like always" then it occurs to me he looks lean and light, a little gaunt in the face compared to normal, which suggests to me they are going to weigh him in LIGHT for this one, which suggests they are concerned by a BRUTHA from the EAST's speed and movement - and rightly so since USKY has possibly the fastest hands in the division, and is light on his feet for a heavy. So now I'm thinking they are acutely aware of the threat USKY brings and are trying to counter it directly, and Big Josh in the middle of all this is feeling the pressure, since they are overtly tinkering with his training regime for this midget. I don't remember big josh ever altering his game plan, style, or PHYSIQUE for anyone. Big Josh COULD be a mentally shot fighter at this point, the warning signs are there to my acute eye. I see another QUIT job incoming.
When was the last time Joshua stopped anybody with one punch? He landed his most famous punch (the legendary uppercut) on 41 year old Klitschko in the 11th round and it still didn't put old Dr Glass Chin down. He landed about 11 consecutive uppercuts on 39 year old little Pudding Pulev and it didn't put him down either. There's a lot of mythology surrounding Joshua. "By far the best record" "So many top 10 wins" "One punch KO power" "Greatest uppercut in boxing" "Improving all the time" "Joshua would easily beat Wilder (because Fury has beaten him) so that bout is not worth considering" "Joshua set the record straight against Ruiz (1-1 series with the blob, circled him after giving up in first bout not very convincing)" You'd think some of the people on this board have their brains wired to Sky Sports and Earn.
It's a small thing but I think the new branding of Joshua as a "throwback fighter" is interesting. "Throwback fighter" means someone who's prepared to fight anyone, but will take a few losses in the process. I think they think a defeat is very possible this weekend. Perhaps it matters less given that Joshua has already lost and that undefeated aura which was a big part of his early branding is now gone. They'll obviously want to win this - but I think they know that a defeat, and then a rematch, is very possible. I also wonder if that's why they've given Wallin to Whyte. If Joshua is tied up with an Usyk rematch they know Whyte vs Fury is a fairly big fight they could make. Whyte defeating Wallin adds to that narrative Hearn is clever and I think this is the sort of thought process he'd have.
"Of course he's going to lose sometimes, all of the greats lost, when you consistently fight the best, losses will happen." Hearn will have a marketing strategy for every corner that Joshua turns, and this "throwback" thing could be just that if he loses again. He will be billed as a boxer who will fight anyone, despite only having one fifty-fifty against an old and inactive Klitschko in his entire career. The population that Sky and Matchroom panders to is easily mollycoddled. All of that destructive, unbeatable, undefeated machine stuff is out of the window and out of mind for most of the target audience. They are happy to be spoon fed by Hearn. I remember not that long ago Joshua was going on about wanting to take his fights around the world. There is such irony in that considering the only bout he could win outside of the British Isles was on a Matchroom Saudi card, against an absolute blob who didn't train. But the point being is that this tied in with that "throwback" strategy and Ali was often cited as an inspiration.
Usyk is going to see what a heavyweight with a punch feels like. He can run or box or whatever. When Joshua connects with a power punch its over with.
