Anyone picking AJ over Big Andy?

From what we know (from the first fight):

Ruiz can take Joshua's shots
Ruiz can seriously hurt Joshua
Ruiz can successfully counter Joshua at will (over and over)
Ruiz's hands are significantly faster than Joshua's
Joshua can't successfully defend on the inside
Joshua isn't as capable in a war as Ruiz.
Joshua will not win a shoot out vs. Ruiz

These are all things that we actually can use to gauge the rematch (they actually happened). I see people saying that Joshua will play it safe and outbox Ruiz. How? He couldn't do it last time. Ruiz is going to still be able to catch and counter Joshua because will still be prone to be countered when he throws shots. Unless you can show in an interim fight (and he didn't have one), that Joshua can completely change tactics and fight in a manner that he hasn't previously exhibited, I see no reason to choose him over Ruiz in a rematch. This is why the immediate rematch was goofy. You don't get obliterated and go immediately back in with the guy that obliterated you. You go work on your craft and prepare.

Ruiz wins by tko (again)

 

People seem to forget that AJ knocked down fatboy. Its going to be an easy night for AJ. Fat boy is going to come in hoping to go for the knock out and expose his jaw. A lot of people are going to be made fools off when fatboy does not make it past round 5

 

AJ did fight that super-cautious way - against Parker

 

I think it's a difficult fight to pick because of the intangibles:
- How did the loss affect AJ's confidence? Did he "learn to lose"? Did it drive him to never want to lose ever again? Will he give up when the going gets tough? Will he be gun shy?

- How did it affect Ruiz' confidence? Is he overconfident?

I think this fight is AJ's to win if he comes in and is willing to win in a jab and grab stinker. Also, he did put Ruiz down last fight. so maybe he comes in with revenge on his mind? He's got the punching power to pull it off.

 

Yep I'm picking AJ to pick up the win this time round. Mainly because I don't think Ruiz has faced the real Anthony Joshua yet! Something definitely wasn't right with him on the night of their first fight, I picked up on it before he had even entered the ring! Unless I'm totally wrong and that was the best of Joshua, then I can only foresee a mid- late stoppage from Joshua with Ruiz going down 3/4 times before getting saved by the ref, or brutally knocked out!

 

Not really. He should win because he has all the advantages.

If you’ve been in the ring, the only thing more annoying than a guy who’s taller with longer reach than you is a guy who’s taller with longer reach who hits ****ing hard. With the former you can at least be confident in being able to outmuscle and outbrawl the guy, but when he’s stronger too?

All Joshua needs to do is jab from a distance, when Ruiz gets in range, 1-2, fall over him, lean in him. Waste his energy. If he sees a clear uppercut shot inside, take it.

The problem is not that Joshua can’t pull it off, it’s that, will he? And that comes down to his preparation, boxing IQ and mental stamina. Mental stamina is underrated, when you’re in the ring with all that adrenaline and specially when you get hit and shocked, your head can go in a daze and you’re working off your instincts. Some fights have good instincts and some like Bruno or Joshua, not so good.

So a few factors which are unknown. As I said, he SHOULD win and he probably will, but if he can’t adjust for the rematch, he won’t win.

Now here is a situation where 1 guy literally can’t win against another. Parker vs Fury. Stylistically, Parker just can’t win. He’s boxing with a better boxer than himself with no equaliser. So it’s not that he won’t because he won’t adjust, he’s just physically outmatched.

 

a joshua win.

unlucky in the first fight. got too eager and tasted defeat from a solid shot from ruiz.

took it like a man. No excuses.

He'll come again fight night and take it to ruiz like the previous oppenents. fight smart and win

 

Roids make difference. If AJ is allowed to use his juice in the rematch we will see a totally different outcome.

 

Actually real money bets are some of the best predictors we know. Real money betting odds on election outcomes routinely outperform any sort of statistical sampling based on polls.

Real money betting odds are a much better predictors than message board heroes like ourselves who just throw out their gut feelings without the willingness to back it up with cold hard cash.

 

Can see Joshua fighting the way he did v Parker against Ruiz in second fight.
Who wins not made my mind up yet.

 

Joshua. All I’m seeing the media is Ruiz talking, Joshua seems focussed

 

Most accurate does not mean 100% accurate, just more accurate than anything else. Think about it this way: If real money betting odds were systematically 'off' or 'wrong', then there'd be a way to make risk-free money from them.

 

I think AJ will have learned his lesson, and will box more cautiously, no rushing in or committing to punches unless Ruiz is clearly very hurt. Adhering to that, along with slight weight tweak to circa 240 giving him a bit more speed and stamina, plus the psychology of not being the world champ and having to look good, should be plenty to put the odds in his favour. I wouldn't rule Ruiz out by any stretch, especially if Joshua loses focus and gets drawn into trading/over-committing, but I think we'll see a far better version of Joshua this time. The best AJ ever seen beats the best Ruiz ever seen 7 or 8 times out of 10.

 

You're absolutely certain that Joshua, who's managed to knock out Povetkin, Whyte, Takkam, Wlad and has a 95% KO to win ratio, and knocked Ruiz down in the first fight, has exactly zero chance of KOing Ruiz?

I favour Joshua for the win, probably by UD, but could easily see a scenario with one or both fighters tiring in the later rounds and Joshua knocking Ruiz down multiple times to a KO/TKO. Equally, I could see the same happening to Joshua again - I just think it's less likely.

 

AJ will go boring Wlad style - jab, jab, jab, right, hug. Repeat. If AJ sticks to his plan he will be given a boring UD. AJ will be better prepared and won't be going for the KO, which will help him.

Ruiz needs to get in closer and throw those counters and combinations. It will be harder chasing a more elusive AJ instead of the one standing right in front of him.

The result will answer a lot of questions.