AJ was no where near "firmly in control" lol, he was backing up and getting tagged for the first two rounds. AJ's mistake was due to low ring IQ and his inability to handle pressure, Ruiz survived AJ's attacks due to his chin, heart and confidence (he was far too confident in the rematch as he partied, didn't train and put on 35 lbs from the Ray Austin fight) and destroyed a chinny, gassing AJ with his superior handspeed. Ruiz also had the sense to apply steady but effective pressure when he had AJ hurt and gassed and not sh*t the bed like Wlad.
AJ landed huge punches in the first 2 rounds, then landed a collosal left hook? that dropped Ruiz, when Ruiz got up AJ landed a huge straight right and went in for the finish. He made a mistake and learned from it.
He didn't land anything big in the first two rounds, he was backing up behind a limp jab. Ruiz was landing the better shots and growing in confidence before the 3rd. AJ then learned that he didn't have the chin and handspeed to compete in a shootout with even a relatively light puncher like Ruiz, so he adopted a more defensive style which just failed very badly against Usyk. So he's in a very difficult position now, with his offensive and defensive games both highly suspect against quality opponents.
No doubt, Usyk would be a big favorite if he fought Ruiz in the near future. With that said, I, personally would not bet a nickel on that fight. Ruiz is that weird type of fighter that's best to avoid when putting money on the line. Strange things can happen, all too often, with a fighter like that.
I think all you would see is Ruizs back and neck rippling as he takes shot after shot. And most probably gets cut badly.
Theres no man born from woman whose guard cant be tricked by Oleksander The Great USyK. Remanber, if you fight USyK your head will have no protection. Before or then you'll be hit in the head by tons of blows without undestanding from where they come. USyK: the opponents guards destroyer.
Said this a million times. Thank you. Some clueless fangirls that were too happy AJ got beaten were touting Ruiz to be something he was not. I also said he was a lazy fat slob and got jumped by fools about how that didn't matter but they change their tune when he got schooled in the second fight, pointing at his weight as a reason.