Larry Merchant on why Joshua-Ruiz II is a bad idea

In 1990, once the planes landed back in the United States days after Buster Douglas upset Mike Tyson, Don King and Larry Merchant appeared on ESPN and were interviewed by Roy Firestone.

Don King sat on the fence ... insisting there was a long count, while insisting he hadn't tried to steal the titles from Douglas by forcing the ref to say he blew the call and demanding the WBC withhold recognition of Douglas, while insisting there would be AN IMMEDIATE rematch between Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas in six months.

Then, Larry Merchant, who had been covering boxing when Don King was still a gangster in Cleveland, came out, and made some pretty relevant points.

And I think those points are relevant this morning, too.

1. First, all drama and shock and surprise aside, Merchant pointed out that Mike Tyson had been beaten up. Tyson didn't just get caught with a lucky punch, Tyson, aside from the knockdown he'd scored over Douglas, was bashed all around the ring round after round (regardless of the fact that the judges had Tyson either even or ahead).

And, other than the knockdown Joshua scored against Ruiz, I think you could say the same about last night. Odd scorecards be damned. Fanboy scorecards be damned. Andy Ruiz put a beating on Anthony Joshua, knocked him down four times and broke him.

2. Second, Merchant said, you don't put a guy RIGHT BACK IN THE RING with someone who just "BEAT HIM UP."

Merchant said promoters want to put together immediate rematches because THEY ARE PROMOTERS and immediate rematches are easy sellers. So, of course, King would want to stage an immediate rematch. But Tyson's team should refuse it. Because it may be good for the gate, but it's not so good for the guy who JUST GOT BEAT UP.

Again, I think this is relevant. Eddie Hearn's first instinct, as a promoter, is to say let's do this again as quickly as possible so we can get this Joshua train back on track.

But Joshua got "owned" last night. He suffered four knockdowns. He essentially gave up the title standing in his corner. He didn't go down fighting. Even Tyson got up with his mouthpiece dangling sideways. He didn't spit it out to try to buy time.

Joshua was humiliated and beaten up by Ruiz. Demanding Joshua "get right back in there" next time out may be what's BEST FOR EDDIE HEARN, but Joshua is going to have the same faults in the rematch Ruiz capitalized on. Joshua's trainers and manager "whoever that is/" need to step up and tell Hearn no.

3. Finally, Merchant said the aura of invincibility from Tyson was gone forever after Douglas had beaten and stopped him. Tyson was still a top heavyweight, but there were going to be more guys in his future who knew how to beat him and weren't going to just fold in front of him.

Anthony Joshua grabbed the mic last night while Ruiz was being interviewed and tried to act like he was still "the big star.". But the reaction to most of his peers (like Wilder and Fury) ... and by boxers from lower weight classes they interviewed afterwards ... was sadness and embarrassment.

Because all the fighters saw the same in Joshua that Merchant had said about Tyson. Joshua's "aura of invincibility" was gone. He was just another heavyweight champion who got knocked out.

Joshua may want the hype train around him to keep going, but he's about to find out he's just another contender again ... and, this time, Charles Martin doesn't have a belt.

The people in the audience seemed to grasp that. It may take a couple days for Joshua to figure it out.

And if Hearn tries to throw Joshua back in the ring with Ruiz in five months, I don't think that's going to solve the problems Joshua had last night.

 

I really agree

Look at Wlad-Sanders. No way in hell you throw Wlad back in with Sanders. Thank God for Wlad's career that Vitali was always there. If Wlad fought Sanders again he would have gotten destroyed and I think he would have retired or never recovered mentally. Similar to Price getting destroyed 2x by Tony Thompson.

 

Unfortunately Joshua doesn't have a choice if he wants to regain what he essentially lost, Joshua cannot afford to wait as PBC has all the belts now. If Joshua does not take the rematch then they are giving those belts to Wilder who once he gets them will simply duck everyone until retirement and like a crazy person will shout about how he is the greatest.

 

Joshua is 29. He's not 39. He'd be wise to correct his faults (and he has a lot of them) before getting back in the ring with a guy who just beat him up and doing the same things that got him dropped four times last night.

 

I agree. Wlad's career would be WILDLY different without Vitali.

 

I think people over exxagerate a lot of things about Tyson Douglas. Vast majority of people felt the fight was lost more because Tyson just did not look himself at all. Tyson and Don King did want a rematch with Buster Douglas but messed up because there was no rematch clause, Douglas fought Holyfield instead and the rest is history. A 100% Tyson will always be favored over the Tokyo Buster Douglas and even the worst Tyson almost got him out of there.

AJ in comparison was completely man handled by Ruiz and a 100% Ruiz will always beat a 100% AJ, that chin is just too fragile.

 

Lol, well if AJ refuses the rematch, he is not going to be worth much money for a while and will be admitting being scared of Ruiz and being over rated by his fans.

 

I've got news for you. Joshua lost. His value is already worth LESS today than he was worth yesterday.

Yesterday, he was a dominant champ. Today, he's a guy who got dropped four times and was stopped by Andy Ruiz ... and there aren't too many guys who lost that badly to Andy Ruiz.

And he isn't going to be worth much money if he gets knocked down EIGHT TIMES in two fights by Andy Ruiz and doesn't win a fight in 2019, either.

He needs to correct his mistakes.

 

This is a very good point, It was like he felt the need to get on the mic to give Ruiz props like getting props from "Me AJ" holds some kind of weight. I think it was also a subconscious thing hes not even completely aware of the bubble hes been living in.

 

Kind of like how Fury slapped around Wilder. It was probably for the best for Wilder’s team not to fight Fury again right away let him rebuild his confidence with Breazale etc. Wilder has good management we all get on Wilder for his incredibly soft resume but maybe their is good reason for it. But when someone like Fury embarrasses his opponent round after round it was probably wise and prudent not to make Wilder go through that again right away.

 

Agreed but the question is a weak chin is a weak chin. Its not going to get better overnight and the thing is AJ works like crazy on his neck and face muscles like a prime Tyson did but lol even that didn't help him. People saying he needs to model himself on Wlad going forward need to realize that Wlad was trained by Emanuel Steward, Wlad was very good at using that Jab and Grab style and keeping his composure in fights even though one punch can throw all plans out of the window in a fight. I don't think AJ has the discipline or ability to fight like Wlad for long in a fight, eventually he will panic and be there for the taking by a durable fast combination punching opponent with a good chin.

 

To be honest Team Fury were the ones not going out of their way for the rematch, they wanted Team Wilder to come to them the second time and that is perfectly justified that the rematch took place on Fury's terms. But it had nothing to do with Team Wilder wanted to rebuild Wilder up and its too early to say whether he has made any changes given that he has only had one round since that fight

 

He can win if he loses 10 lbs and boxes a totally negative fight. Jabbing and holding.

Kevin Johnson went the distance with Ruiz recently ffs.

 

Lol, the interviewer should have told AJ his place and to wait for his turn

 

I agree. When he grabbed the mic during Ruiz's victory interview and began "thanking the crowd" I thought it was a totally classless and embarrassing move ... and an example of the protective bubble he's always been in.

If DAZN wasn't so "in bed" with Joshua and Matchroom, I doubt they would've allowed that.

I don't normally care for Jim Gray on Showtime, but Jim Gray would've eviscerated Anthony Joshua post-fight last night ... to his face.