Joshua: My Mind Was On Wilder, NOT Ruiz...

He was stood in the corner rationalising why the ref was allowing the time to tick by (to get the mouthpiece back in before letting them box on, according to AJ) and yet he claims his brain was scrambled from round three onward by the hit to the top of the head. It's highly unlikely both these statements are true.

Also, it seemed he'd turned a corner in the immediate aftermath of his loss, doing a talking head explanation to camera on his own website video channel. It seemed more like the man talking to his fans. Roll on a few months and his fight analysis is a sponsored interview conducted by a 'celebrity' pal in which he claims nine out of ten times he'd beat Ruiz and June 1 represented that statistical blip. He's underestimating again and thinks he needs to change nothing...

 

LOL at the arrogance and smugness of some posters on here roasting AJ

Imagine AJ beats down Ruiz Jr??

How will these posters look then...?

 

Does it even count as an excuse? If he didn't have full focus or concentration on his opponent, that's a weakness.

I wonder how many fights have been lost due to a boxer having lapses in concentration. It takes a certain mental fortitude to be completely focused on the task in hand, and that goes for everything in life never mind boxing. But of course in boxing the stakes are higher.

If the Wilder fight could distract AJ in the first Ruiz fight, who's to say something else won't distract him in the second. Sounds like an area he's identified needs to be improved rather than an excuse.

 

I think AJ wanted to face Miller much more than Ruiz. He had strong emotions there to beat Miller badly. He just lost his fire in this fight against Ruiz, who was like..."whatever" opponent. AJ is very emotional fighter...thats his strength but also his weakness. In rematch it will be his strength, I think.

 

Seriously underestimated Ruiz

 

He was beaten by a superior man in ruiz.
If he believes these excuses he will not improve for the rematch

 

Honestly, I can say this is believable. I think he was completely over looking Ruiz given the situation with Big Baby, and then looking forward to the potential mega fight vs. Wilder. He still got his ass thoroughly whooped but I believe he probably thought of the Ruiz fight as a walk over. Just like Lennox vs. Rahman when Lennox was looking forward to the Tyson fight.

That being said, stylistically his team didn't account for Ruiz's handspeed and combination punching nor the fact that Ruiz would be able to withstand his shots. Not sure what can be corrected because Joshua's pace, stamina, and lack of defensive prowess on the inside isn't something that can be fixed going into an immediate rematch (normally).

 

Funny way of saying you got knocked down 4 times and quit against a late replacement.

 

If he did say this then it's not something that's going to be a factor going into the rematch. Ruiz is getting a bit overrated on here, considering he already got outboxed by Parker, so if Joshua was truly off his game for whatever reason then we should see him beat Ruiz with comparative ease. I've rewatched the fight a couple of times and it really looked like Joshua just got clipped in the exchange after the KD and couldn't recover his legs. If he keeps things long next time and doesn't allow Ruiz to swarm him then I can see him comfortably outpointing Ruiz.

It's a damn interesting fight whatever happens though. Does Joshua show the ability to come back from defeat, can he deal with a faster opponent that seems to show him no fear, can Ruiz maintain his composure and get the win again? I can't wait to see the responses from both men.

 

I remember when Joshua was insulting a fat fck on the internet (Tyson Fury). Then he went and got beat by a guy who resembles Fury during The Lost Years. That's amusing. Fury never came into a fight as fat as Ruiz. Few people do. It's amazing he can maintain that fatness while being a professional boxer. Fury had to put the work in to get obese, he gave up training completely and had KFC eating competitions with his brother. I bet if they released 24hr monitoring of Ruiz, his diet would shock everybody. It's the only way he could maintain this shocking obesity despite training camps. He may even be fatter in the rematch. Even still, the fattest world champion of all time.

 

Hear the rematch most likely to be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Confirmation coming today/shortly

 

Looks almost certain now. 7th December. To be announced today

 

Hearn has been protecting AJ from Fury and Wilder.

 

Pathetic excuse.