The biggest flaws Joshua needs to fix are defensive flaws: - When joshua throws a punch he is very vulnerable to a counter because he just stands there admiring his work. - Joshua needs to stop dropping his hands after throwing a punch - Joshua needs to stop ducking/crouching evrytime Ruiz lands a punch because Ruiz rabit punches or hits him on top of the head whenever he reacts to a punch by crouching low. At Joshua's height crouching low simply puts his head within punching range of shorter figters like Ruiz. Joshua should grab instead, just like Klitschko - Joshua needs to use his reach, he tries to fight like a 6 ft 6 inch Mike Tyson but without the head movement or defensive awareness - Joshua is not defensively responsible. The first knock down he suffered against Ruiz reminded me of Amir Khan's flurry against Danny Garcia who countered Khan with the same kind of temple shot As for offensive flaws Joshua needs to fix: - Every time Joshua threw a right hand he was countered, he needs to use feints or improve the timing of his right hand. Ruiz took away Joshua's right hand, you cannot win a boxing match without a right especially not against a shorter opponent. So Joshua needs to stop overcommitting his right hand because Ruiz hurt him everytime he "loaded up on a right hand" - Joshua must stop Ruiz from pushing him back, this is where the right hand and Jab comes in. - Speaking of the Jab, Joshua's Jab was non existant. If I was Joshua I would give Wladimir a call and ask him advice on how to fix the above weaknesses. I don't think Joshua can fix these holes under his current trainer, Rob McCkracken, Joshua's team needs to find a coach who can patch these holes, that might require him to move his training camp to the USA.
I agree with all of this. Although I like McCracken and think he’s a very good coach, but he seems almost afraid to correct Joshua when Joshua makes mistakes. In training footage they released for the Takam fight I seen Joshua working on the heavybag throwing the hooks too wide and like you said he kept dropping his hands.
For one there aint gonna be a rematch, for two , if you wanna see joshua in full clown mode watch the intro to the Whyte fight. He was a bad mamajama wasnt he ? Omg he is such a puss, sticking his tongue out in that first round
Lol AJ quit. His aura of invincibility is done and dusted. Good fighters getting in the ring with him are going to be twice bolder now. Secondly he needs a chin transplant. Ruiz knows he has AJ's number.
Absolutely generic jabbing+outside boxing would probably get the job done honestly. Can AJ do it? Can AJ jab?
I think it mostly was a mindset thing first of all. Joshua did not want to be there that night for whatever reason. It was clear from his body language. Looking outside the ring in between rounds and stuff. In the third round Joshua actually knocked Ruiz down first. Being the result of Joshua simply being the more gifted fighter and the more physical guy. Then he jumped on Ruiz got reckless and got cought. That later happened again, when Joshua would land something big he jumped on Ruiz. Next time he better doesn't do that. Because it's clear now that that's when Ruiz is dangerous. I thought Joshua's best round was the fifth. Where he was using a lot of lateral movement. Ruiz it is what it is, he is good at what he does. What he does is plod forward and be willing to take some punches to land his own. Ruiz will never be a butterfly though. He is quite one dimensional, just very good in that one dimension. Joshua in the fifth had some success with the left hook while pivoting. Basically he should not go toe to toe with Ruiz. I think going in the fight he took Ruiz a bit to lightly. Thought he could just blow him out. So mindset and lateral movement. Joshua is not the best dancer. But let's face it Ruiz never will be. You don't need to be a very good dancer to out dance Ruiz. The ring seemed a bit small as well. Which is cool and all. But I would not be surprised if Eddie Hearn gets the biggest ring he can find if they rematch in the UK. Congratulations to Ruiz though. He did everything right in his power. Honestly I assume that Ruiz is going for the big money rematch in the UK. Win or lose after this fight there will be more big fights for him lined up in the future. I actually would like to see Wilder vs Ruiz now though. To unify the titles. And when it gets wild and dirty I think Ruiz would actually have a decent chance to do to Wilder what he did to Joshua. Ruiz got a hard head, good recovering powers, fighting spirit, and he is dangerous up close with those fast hard hooks.
Yes, the flaws mentioned in the post explain why short boxers are kryptonite for Joshua. What actually angers me is that if posters on boxingforum24 can see these flaws then why the hell did Joshua's team agree to put him in with a short fighter like Ruiz whose best attributes easily exploit such weakness. No wonder Joshua's dad was going mad at Eddie Hearn. Greedy Eddie Hearn ended Kel Brooks carrier and it looks like he has does not care about ending Joshua's career too. I've seen several interviews of fast Eddie and he keeps saying "let's face it, Joshua should be beating guys like Ruiz" which shows Eddies complete lack of understanding of boxing, he is probably basing his assessment on ruiz looking like an overweight midget relative to Joshua
Well yeah. But at the same time if you are supposedly the best HW on the planet you are supposed to take all comers.
When you been hyping a hype job as long as Hearn and that coach has been, you start to believe your own BS. They did not even bother to study up on Ruiz. They saw his fatass body and licked their lips, another CHERYPICKMFKER! If they had spend 5 minutes watching his fights, they'd no he is a highly skilled pressure fighter who has an iron chin. And whenever you hit him, he automatically HITS BACK like an autonomous reaction. AJ's Team are fools.
First thing we need to learn about AJ is how he responds to adversity. We wont know this until his next fight. If his head isn't right he could be finished. As far as technical aspects he needs to know how to clinch better and reset. He fights too tall for shorter inside fighers. He thought he hurt Ruiz more than he did both times he ended up in trouble. He put Ruiz down and went in for the kill and got countered by an opponent with faster hands. then in round 7 he landed another great hook, but Ruiz didn't go down but AJ mayne because he was tiring thought he was hurt and got countered again. honestly his chin and his confidence were really bad last night. Wlad came all the way back we'll see if Joshua can.