Age is a shitty excuse at HW and everyone knows it. Usyk - 37yo Fury - 36yo Zhang - 41yo Jarrell - 36yo Chisora - 40yo Nothing about Joshua's age or being past prime had to do with this loss. Many of AJs wins were even against 40yos (Wlad, Pov, Takam, Pulev, Helenius). People were saying he looked as good as ever and rejuvenated with Ben Davison heading into this one. Dubois is just about the only good opponent AJ has fought who was in their 20s besides Joseph Parker who is not much of a puncher at HW like Dubois is.
I thought the Dubois loss was worse. He looked awful. Like he forgot how to fight. Against Ruiz it was kind of a "lucky" punch in an exchange where he was trying to finish. That even happened in the Dubois fight too, except he threw caution to the wind much worse.
Has to be Ruiz. I mean, Dubois at least looks like a guy who would wreck some other men in a ring, whereas Ruiz looks like a guy who would wreck a buffet.
To be honest it probably comes after years and months of over the top boosting and hyping, based on Joshua's over-hyped wins over mid-level opposition. It's like a pendulum.
Daniel Ruiz was short notice first time in americwar iirc Just got blitzed off the young whipper snapper In front of 93 thousand brits And Ruiz caught him and swarmed him daniel just bullied him and blitzed him before half way point
Ruiz and it's not even close. Joshua was unbeaten, building up a big unbeaten aura about him, he was being hyped as the real thing, and looking to spread the hype to America. Ruiz was a 3 week replacement, looked like he worked full time in Pizza hut, acted like he was a fan of AJ just happy to be their in the build up, and was absolutely written off as having no chance in the fight, it had complete mismatch written all over it. I watched that fight unfold in astonishment, I'm not a fan of AJ but I remember feeling embarrassed for him, this hyped up body builder went to America and got the **** kicked out of him by the fat kid who got bullied in the school play ground, and to top it all off, AJ was all smiley about it after as though it was fine. The Dubois loss came in a fight where most people had AJ favourite but they knew there was a chance Dubois might beast him, also at a time where people had already seen many chinks in Joshua's armoury previously. I'm not a fan of AJ but I again feel bad for him, hes a decent bloke, hard not to like, it's just the bull**** hype that comes with him from the likes of Hearn, Bellew, Chisora, Nelson, Haye, Oliver etc etc, the way they blow smoke up his ass is nauseating and then the hype is ignited in his legion of fans. Part of me wants Joshua to come back and still become a 3 time champ when the alphabet belts become vacant, it's just the circus that will come with that.
AJ was so embarrassed by the thought of losing to the younger Dubois he did everything he could to get up. Against Ruiz he didn't seem as eager to continue. Getting knocked around the ring like that by a younger less experienced fighter cant be much fun.
There was a moment in the fifth round with Dubois when I screamed to my friends: " Someone get a priest there, the doctor is not enough!. If he gets up again he could die!". Frightening fight for Bodybuilder.
The Ruiz loss was more embarrassing cos he was fighting a blob with T-rex arms. But Dubois was a much bigger beating.
Neither loss is embarrassing in hindsight, as aj is an overhyped bodybuilder I'm surprised he hasn't been knocked out more. I guess old men collecting a pay check will do their duty
Ruiz looks like **** but he's always been able to fight. He is very tough, tenacious and fast, if he didn't look like he does I think Joshua would catch a lot less heat. Then again Ruiz body shape perhaps dictates how he fights too. I don't give Joshua much credit for beating a whale version of the guy who beat him in NY, he turned up like he rolled out of bed and the buffet for another pay check and thinking he'd do the same thing against a much more switched on Joshua. You can only beat what's infront of you but it didn't prove the Ruiz 1 fight was a freak incident at all. It's true he stayed out of range and boxed with intelligence so showed adjustments, I just don't think a fighter in that state Ruiz showed up in should've been allowed to disgrace the belts or himself. Then has the cheek to demand a third fight after the final bell just because he turned up like a fool.
Ruiz. He was a massive underdog in AJs US debut, and hasn't really done much since. Dubios was understandable given his recent performances.