Anthony Joshua....which is it ?

Ruiz took Joshua's heart. He could not mount an offense without being effectively countered by Ruiz.

Imagine trying to land on a guy but whenever you try, he blocks your shots and counters you. That's what I saw.

It wasnt so much a physicality issue as Ruiz out boxed him. Had his number.

Joshua tried the same combos over and over. Never adjusted. Ruiz did, figured out quickly how to defend against and countered those combos and the rest is history.

Props to Ruiz. On that night he was the superior boxer.

 

I don't know what was going on in his head. None of us do. He may or may not himself if he was concussed.

It's not so important.

He was not going to win. It was not his night.

He has no answers for what Ruiz brought to the table on that particular night.

Maybe next time he will have a different game plan and be better prepared for Ruiz's abilities.

Or not. We shall soon see.

 

Joshua has a lot of great tools, but Hearn needs to keep him more active, since Joshua is still pretty green with less than 100 rounds of experience as a pro. Nine months of inactivity is unacceptable for a guy as inexperienced as him despite his success. However, he and his team also completely underestimated Ruiz’s durability, which shocked me.

I don’t think Joshua has a bad chin or even necessarily poor stamina, but instead Joshua’s footwork is very wasteful. To cover even a very small distance in the ring Joshua often takes 4-5 steps when he could do it in 2 steps if his footwork was better and he’d also have an easier beating his opponents to the punch. Every wasted step counts when you’re 240 to 250 lbs.

Joshua also tends to take punches while standing square and he often takes shots flush. If he had a little upper body movement and moved his head more he wouldn’t be taken the full force of most of the shots he takes. Ruiz seen Joshua’s head almost never moved and started going for it. Price also has this problem, since Chisora kept loading up with his right over and over, since Price’s head never moves.

Ruiz’s footwork was way more efficient, which is why he wasn’t tired as the rounds progressed. Ruiz was able to cover the same distance in the ring as Joshua was, but with considerable less steps and energy. Vitali earlier in his career used to have messy and wasteful footwork, but after he got with Steward his footwork was extremely efficient as was his pacing, which in my opinion were his two greatest weapons.

Also, Joshua’s team should’ve been well informed on all of the to 1-15 heavyweights. If Joshua’s team had been well informed on Ruiz Joshua wouldn’t have been surprised at all when Ruiz shaked off getting knocked down and he would’ve known better than to try and force the knockout.

Kevin Barry once trained Ruiz and knew to make Parker move around the ring and rack up points on Ruiz rather than having Parker recklessly trading with Ruiz.

If Joshua’s footwork was more efficient and he worked on his pacing he wouldn’t tire as easily as he does. Instead of bouncing around and wasting energy Joshua should be sliding his feet more.

 

Can't wait for AJ to smoke Ruiz so we can get over the hate already

 

Ruiz gonna have the bodybuilder for Christmas pudding come December. Joshua ran out of ideas quite quickly when he realized the blob was absorbing his best shots like jaffa cakes. lol

 

Yep - will be fascinating to see...

 

Chin and Stamina

 

This rematch is becoming more interesting as the fight date gets closer.

 

Ruiz's weight and stature combined with his agression and body attack causes his opponents to wear down by the middle rounds, which is why so many of his opponents have quit.

Joshua isn't relaxed and doesn't clinch very well or work the body. None of this will change in the rematch and he'll likely gas out by round 9 or sooner.

 

No brain is the right answer...

He thought himself superman and deservedly crumbled

Let's not pretend that if he turned up and stank the place out like Klit he wouldn't of won..

Klit had the brains, the brains to see his advantages, even though the style is awful to watch and very few can get by it, Fury only managed to break Klits deadlock through style, size and reach (and being more boring than the boring-master himself)..
AJ drew Klit into a fight and won, something we hadn't seen in a while but was all down to size and equal athleticism. Klit came against an equal and after the Fury fight, lost his own belief.

Against Ruiz, AJ expected an easy win, and was humbled fantastically

If AJ had brains, then I only see Wilder and Fury as potential victors against him right now. The reasons: Wilders tall long reach can connect at any point (see the Fury I fight).. Fury, again, is tall and lengthy, and his style (without ducking) can avoid anyone near his size whilst peppering rebuffing shots all fight (albeit of the back foot and not meaningful) that will win points and fights

AJ need to play to his strengths and realise his limitations.

He needs to "Klit" Ruiz jr to a boring easy UD (that we will all hate)

I'm favouring Ruiz Jr though.... AJ thinks himself a God to his own demise

 

It will be the same type of ending early, or it will be a clean knockout late on for Ruiz.

 

The answer is D: all of the above

 

Chin, stamina and not being able to in-fight. Don't think lack of heart was an issue.

 

His heart and chin are fine. Not A grade, but OK.

His stamina sucks. Wlad could totally have hammered him out when he had him gasping for air but let him off the hook. Ruiz simply hits hard, and fast, and didn't let him recover.