Ruddock is more one dimensional so Joshua should be the favourite having the better all around skills. But Ruddock has the power to stop Joshua I seem to recall Povetkin, Whyte, wobbling Joshua with left hooks. And even Ruiz's equilibrium punch that turned the fight around vs Joshua was with a left hook aswell I believe. What was Ruddock's best punch ? The hybrid left hook, left uppercut. Overall as I said I'd make Joshua a slight favourite but I wouldn't bet on it.
This pretty much sums it up. Ruddock was one dimensional to the extreme sometimes, and him vs. just about anybody usually came down to whether or not he could get that left hand "smash" in and end it, which makes many fantasy match-ups with him kind of hard to call.. Joshua was clearly better all-around, and would be ahead throughout. I like him by late stoppage, or perhaps UD, but I as well wouldn't bet a dime on this. Ruddock has more than enough power to stop AJ.
I think the the one dimensional thing gets blown a little out of proportion with Ruddock. The only guy he went rounds with who went way up on the cards was Tyson, and Ruddock was competitive in both. The bigger issue with him was the neglect of defense which was pretty much only exceeded by Jorge Luis Gonzalez in the 90s.
I see Joshua as a more complete fighter and I would favor him in that fight, namely Ruddock hit hard and it would be interesting to see how Joshua's chin can take it, but in the end a physically bigger man and also a hard hitter would still win and that is Joshua...
Joshua can't really emulate Lewis in this match-up but that doesn't mean he can't find his own way to win against a guy who is most certainly beatable, That said, I just don't fancy Joshua against any fighter as dangerous as Ruddock was in his prime.
I favor AJ. But Ruddock has enough punching power to KO AJ. But AJ has better skills and hits very hard himself. To me, AJ is s faster, more fluid version of Bruno and I think Bruno would have gave Ruddock plenty of trouble.
Joshua was knocked out by Andy Ruiz. Joshua was afraid to let his hands go against Usyk. Razor Ruddock fought better fighters in a better era. Ruddock by early round KO.
