is Andy Ruiz correct when he says Anthony Joshua lacks boxing skills ?

is he correct

 

AJ's skillset isn't the problem, the problem is that Joshua is mentally weak.

AJ tried to outbox the master boxer in Usyk. Why? Talked about using his size in the build up and didn't.

Prior to that AJ chose to trade with Ruiz jr inside despite the fact that Ruiz has T-rex arms by comparison.

After the Ruiz loss, Joshua didn't change what was wrong. In that fight AJ had Ruiz hurt, rushed in and threw punches out of position and got clipped then dropped and stopped.

In round five Joshua had Dubois hurt, rushed towards him with his left hand down and threw an uppercut out of position. Joshua got clipped, dropped and stopped.

Some fighters like Holyfield and Fury recover quickly after being knocked down. Then there is AJ. AJ never seems to be the same after he gets hit now, let alone dropped.

 

Given all the hype and money around the "AJ" brand, his boxing skills are actually shocking.

His fans will make endless excuses for poor performances, claiming he was "anxious" or "concussed", but the truth is his skills will always let him down at the highest level. It's easy to look like a boxing genius against Charles Martin, Francis Ngannou, and a series of war torn 40 year olds, but it's a different story when a prime top 10 guy is in your face.

 

Joshua has a good skillset but not at a world level, a world-class fighter would never allow himself to be beaten, let alone knocked out, by an overweight fighter...

 

Joshua has good offensive skills but poor defensive.

Andy Ruiz has faster hands. Especially when at the all you can eat buffet.

 

I don't think he's totally unskilled, it's not like he's as inept as Wilder. He does have some boxing skills it's just not something he excels at or that comes natural to him.

On the way up he was different, a big super heavy who was also adept on the inside. The combo that put Ruiz Jr down for example, uppercut then a left hook up close. His best range in terms of offence has always been in the mid range or up close, where his combinations were lethal. Smaller fighters like Takam for example instead of taking it too him, tried to keep him at a distance because he was superior up close, despite being taller and rangier, in this regard he was like Bowe. But unlike Bowe he didn't have the chin or the stamina to fight like that for sustained periods, so had to box between these up close exchanges.

After the Ruiz Jr loss he tried to learn to box more from the outside and be more patient but it sacrificed some of his strengths and limited his offensive ability. But I don't think he ever really grasped the ability to fight effectively on the outside. He still held his feet too much and his jab was never good enough to really control distance, though it did get better. Povetkin never had a problem getting past the jab and landing on Joshua.

But the biggest problem for Joshua was his ring IQ. While he added to his skillset by learning to be a bit more defensively responsible and to box more he could never really slide in an out between his new style or his old style, which would have made him a better all round fighter. In the end he simply became a different fighter, but was not really any more effective and depending on the opponents style possibly less effective in some circumstances. I also have questioned some of his tactical choices at times. He should have never of tried boxing with Wlad, he made that fight harder than it should have been, allowing Wlad to lead and dictate the start of that fight. Same with the Dubois fight, against a guy you know can't fight on the back foot and is best moving forward he simply gave up the centre and allowed himself to be pushed back which suited DDD.

 

AJ has good boxing skills. A bit robotic. Let's himself down mentally.

 

Ruiz isn’t completely wrong. Joshua is obviously a very physically gifted fighter, big, strong, athletic, hits hard, and when he sticks to basics (jab, 1-2, mid-range control), he’s effective. But when it comes to pure boxing skills, things like fluidity, defensive instincts, combination punching on the move, adapting mid-fight, he’s pretty limited compared to true elite technicians.

He’s very robotic under pressure, needs a set rhythm to look good, and struggles when the fight gets messy or when someone takes him out of his comfort zone. Ruiz exposed that, Joshua’s reaction to fast, unpredictable combinations and inside fighting was poor. Even now, AJ looks stiff compared to natural boxers like Usyk or Fury.

So yeah, Ruiz has a point. Joshua has good fundamentals for a heavyweight, but in terms of natural boxing IQ and adaptability, he’s not at the elite level. His game is built much more on athleticism and discipline than pure skill.

 

Good post, spot on in a lot of areas. Joshua was never truly unskilled, but you’re right that nothing about his style was ever completely natural or fluid. Early on, he looked like a mid-range wrecking machine, fast combinations, brutal finishing ability, but he never had the chin, stamina, or ring IQ to maintain that kind of style against better opposition. Once the Ruiz loss exposed those weaknesses, he tried to reinvent himself as more of a safety-first boxer, but like you said, he never fully grasped how to control range properly or transition between styles mid-fight.

The Wlad fight showed it too, instead of bullying an ageing opponent, he let Wlad dictate the rhythm early, got dropped, and had to pull out a gutsy win the hard way. And against Dubois, it’s just more of the same, giving up the centre of the ring, fighting reactively instead of proactively, and making a dangerous but limited opponent look better than he is.

Joshua’s always had the tools but not the instincts. And by trying to “fix” himself after Ruiz, he ended up diluting the things that made him dangerous in the first place without really mastering the new style either.

 

He has good boxing skills, do doubt, there is no way someone can hang at the top of the sport like he did without having good boxing skills. I think where he is let down is that he is not a natural fighter, he always looks like he is in his own head too much and overthinks things.

 

Ruiz is right. Joshua despite being a former champion never fully developed skillwise.

Joshua never developed a good jab and a lot of other subtle skills that can only be developed gradually, which I blame on him becoming a champion too quickly.

 

He's a bodybuilder and former drug dealer, that still thinks he's a big gangsta

His skills aren't the issue, it's his robotic style and fear of being hit

 

Andy Ruiz is correct

joshua is a trash boxer

 

When this era runs it's course he will be regarded in the Top 5. He does have boxing skills. He was overrated in his pomp but he is laughably underrated right now.

Said it before, Joshua has never really found who he is in the ring. Usyk, Fury, Parker, Kabayel, Zhang, DDD, even Chisora, know what they can do in the ring and their own character is on display in their fights. Since the Ruiz loss, he approaches fights by way of so many different avenues mentally he's lost his natural inclination. He is a power puncher with size but doesn't play into his strengths. He could and maybe can still be a force. He just doesn't show the initiative to turn the tide when a fight isn't going his way.

 

AJ has pretty good technical skills, fundamentals and has got talent but he has a very questionable mentality and ring IQ.

He makes a lot of mistakes with his mind in the ring. Such as leaving himself so open against Ruiz to get concussed in the first fight. Deciding to fight Usyk's game on two occasions and expecting Dubois to show him respect.