Na i think coward fits. Corrales turned it around. Marquez turned it around. Sure there’s multiple other examples. This was for 4 heavyweight titles, not a leisure centre fight. He quit because he had realised Ruiz was better. Badou Jack continued with THAT cut despite clearly being beaten round by round. That’s bravery.
For whatever reason AJ had bad day at the office, no way did a peak mentally and possibly physically AJ turn up at MSG. But as the Dempsey quote goes "You know what a champion is? A champion is someone who's ready when the gong rings - not just before, not just after - but when it rings". Last night at MSG that was Ruiz, so no way am i going to diminish the praise that Ruiz is due. There is no way AJ is going to intentionally lose and give up the mega purses, or risk damaging his persona which is a valuable business tool by being seen to have thrown a fight, let us not forget many Brits paid big bucks to travel to the Big Apple to see the fight. AJ lost, end of, it happens.
How do you know he was concussed ? Did the post fight interview fine and was pretty unmarked. Looked out of gas/heart to me. But that’s my opinion
Get over it, Joshua was the SAME Joshua he ALWAYS was in previous fights. No difference at all!!! Stop making excuses, because Eddie Hearn and Anthony Joshua are not making ANY excuses, and you are not part of their camp to know if something went wrong. Eddie confirms there was nothing wrong with Joshua prior to the fight: This content is protected He just got beaten by a stronger opponent, nobody fought AJ like Ruiz Jr did, and AJ got exposed. REMEMBER: It isn't that AJ lost, ..... it is more that Ruiz JR WON.
What makes Anthony's loss even more unbelievable than Tyson's first defeat at the hands of Buster Douglas is the physical disparity between the fighters. Correct me if i'm wrong, but I can't recall there being such a physical mismatch in the history of the heavyweight championship. LOL
I think it's also a matter of styles. Joshua will always have trouble with Ruiz's style and same goes with Wlad and Sanders.
Joshua has got a great offense, hits hard great combination puncher and variety of punches, what he doesn't have is a great defence or good at taking a shot, this was bound to happen at some point.
against Wlad AJ showed his vulnerabilities. The writing was on the wall, he was reeling on the ropes defensless, I just didn't think Ruiz had the ability to expose him. AJ cannot deal with a fast combination puncher that's for sure. He gasses and looks bewildered when he is up against stiff opposition, He is an on top fighter but if you can take his punch, as Ruiz did, he is in trouble. AJ had no game plan, he kept trying for the KO. to be fair his mind must have been all over the place, wanting to impress versus winning the fight by any means necessary. he knew he'd already looked bad going down, struggling with this perceived pudding. It was a humiliating loss really. I feel sorry for those that become victims of the reality of boxing, thinking they are on top of the world, then seconds later on the trash heap. AJ had technical problems in this fight as well, I'm not even convinced he could win the rematch, it sounded to me that Eddie was more keen on this than AJ.
Thank you all for the posts. I think I understand now. My point was very controversial. It seems I've been a mad passenger on AJ's hype train. /someone even called me delusional on another thread../ I haven't been watching boxing for long and till now always the more muscular and taller guys won, so I kinda concluded that physical power is much more important than skill. But Ruiz fought really well, showed excellent speed and heart and fully deserved the win. Image is one thing, boxing abilities is another. I now see the fight is completely real. PS: I watched the match Klitschko - Sanders and was like :O xD
