Putting it in reverse and jabbing for 12 rounds against a Butterbean impersonator didn't exactly erase the huge beatdown upset he took in the previous fight. The general sentiment now seems to be that Joshua is "back" and a clear #2 in the division. Is he really? Based on what? Ruiz came in at 284 lbs folks. He's 6'1 and half a foot shorter than Joshua who was 40+ lbs lighter than him on the night. These dimensions are not remotely similar to the people who have the potential to hand Joshua his 2nd loss. Beating a guy who literally trained by eating pizza does not make Joshua a clear #2 over Wilder. Conversations about how "Fury vs. Joshua will decide who really rules the HW division" are absurd. It's not even close. Fury rules it, belts be damned. It would be a lot closer if Joshua put on a dominant clinic, but he showed a style that would be useless against Fury. Pulev is exiting his stay as a solid contender in big time boxing, but he still brings some interest to this bout. Joshua needs to look good in this fight, which he is more than capable of doing.
Not much to disagree with here. Joshua has collected belts from a bunch of interim title placeholders. Other than going life and death with ancient wlad and beating guys with flappy titties he's proven very little
I am a Joshua fan, and actually agree with almost everything you said. Fury is the man right now. Joshua is definitely his best fight, but he needs to spend some time in the wilderness and rebuild himself. Nothing against Joshua. He just needs more rebuilding. His aura of invincibility is gone, and now he has to finish replacing it with intelligent, gameplan oriented fighting. And yes, we do have to see him convincingly beat someone of quality. Hopefully the Pulev fight answers some questions.
People have unrealistic standards. Ruiz is actually very talented, so it’s an insult to compare him to Butterbean. Ruiz is just lazy and not disciplined with his diet much like guys before him such as Tua and Galento, who also had a lot of talent, but often underperformed due to laziness and lack of discipline. That said you can’t knockout everyone and the goal at the end of the day is to win. Before the first fight I said that if Joshua was foolish enough to try and force a knockout on Ruiz he’d pay for it and he did. Joshua swallowed his pride and did what he had to do to win the rematch, which is what a smart fighter does. For what it’s worth Wilder wouldn’t knockout Ruiz either. I’ve seen Ruiz shake off murderous shots in sparring from Darnell Wilson, so I knew Joshua wouldn’t be able to knockout Ruiz.
What makes Wilder deserving of a spot as number 2? What has he actually done to deserve a spot in the top 3 for that matter? He has only beaten one good opponent. Whyte, Ruiz and Parker all have better wins than him. Joshua clearly deserves the number 2 spot for unifying twice and becoming a 2 time world champion, something Wilder will probably never accomplish. AJ’s resume alone shits on Wilders.
His chin is already decent. He didn’t risk going for the KO in the rematch because too much was at stake. His career, sponsorships, potential big money fights and his public reputation. He was gunshy yes but for a good reason. All it would take is another well placed shot to the mastoid bone like last time and he’s ****ed. It had nothing to do with his chin being weak. AJ would take Ruiz power quite well if it was just shots to his jaw he took, AJ clearly can’t shake off a good temple shot which has nothing to do with the chin.
Joshua went to MSG to make a statement, that didn’t work out so well. Nothing wrong boxing safety first even if it’s boring.
Joshua gets so much criticism it seems. He loses to an overweight Mexican, beats him in the rematch (not too convincingly, but easily enough). The greatest fighters of all time have had stinkers & been beaten. I’m no Joshua fanboy but being diplomatic, a couple of wins & Ruiz will fade into the distance. Eventually he will take on Tyson Fury, the No1, ‘The Greatest of all time’ , as some call him. He is very good but Joshua has a decent chance, maybe only a punchers chance, he will probably tag Fury at some point.....and who knows. These are only scenarios, but it’s no more far fetched than a fat Mexican being world HW champion.
Correct. It's the wins over Klitschko, Parker, Povetkin and Whyte that make Joshua a clear #2 over Wilder.
I am not an AJ fan- but this is truth right here. Fact is, he has got solid wins. Some of them controversial (Takam, Parker) but those W's make him #2.
AJ is in an extremely perilous position right now in the HW division. The psychological damage that the Ruiz pasting did to him, will not be seen until someone in shape checks that chin. With his air of invicibility gone, they wont be standing off him and admiring their own work and have the belief to finish him I think fast car matches him extremely carefully and only puts him in with live bodies for big money. The Pulev fight makes sense because Pulev is absolutely past it and at 40 years old wont be able to work at a high tempo for more than 5-6 rounds before gassing. AJ is mentally strong and determined, otherwise he would not have got to the top. But he does look to be on the decline at this point. I dont know many people who would make him a favourite against Wilder or Fury
To judge a fighter you should, in my opinion, look at their entire body of work, not just their last opponent. Fury is seen as number 1, and rightly so in my opinion. But it is close. Let’s not forget that Fury struggled with Wallin until he gassed. I agree though, Joshua isn’t out boxing Fury from the outside. But I will say this, I’d be shocked if Fury has genuinely transformed into this pressure fighter. I reckon any fighter with decent mid to close range skills will have Fury going back to form.
Agreed. Neutralising Joshua's combos is a lot different to neutralising Wilder's one big punch. Fury vs Josh will see Fury revert to something like the Wlad fight.. but hopefully with a bit more aggression.
