Maybe this is AJs 'Sanders Moment.'

Corrie actually shook Vitali in the early rounds. Shook... Vitali. That’s saying a lot. Joshua **** himself when Vitali started going off on him and even got all uncomfortable during the pre-fight introductions when Vitali was mean mugging him. Sanders is just cut from a different cloth. Lol WAY different.

 

True, but the sample size was greater between Ruiz-Josha than it was between Wlad-Sanders. Being able to outbox and outclass an opponent over a period of multiple rounds is more impressive than a random one or two round blowout.

We really don't know if Klitschko could've overcome Sanders in the rematch or not. It's less conclusive. However, I feel it's far more conclusive Ruiz would've beaten any version of AJ we've seen till date, simply because it's a bad style match-up for him. Joshua did what he usually does in his past fights but these things didn't work, because Ruiz was a different opponent to anything AJ faced before.

 

No he didn't. This is revisionist history. Sanders completely outboxed Wlad. Sander's took Wlad's jab away, beat him to the punch in an effective intercept tactic, and simply outclassed him. Just because he finished him early, doesn't mean he blitzed him.

 

You don't COMPLETELY OUTBOX anybody in only 2 rounds, EVER. Too small a sample size!

 

Well, I'm looking forward to Joshua's "Brewster moment" next year then.

 

Woke up to this fallout, which I didn't expect at all against Ruiz. But what I actually hoped for would happen with all the ducking going on.
It might be a Wlad moment indeed, only found the 2nd and 3rd round early this morning on yt and haven't searched for it since.

Next up Schwarz TKO Fury... please make it happen.

 

Maybe I’m too optimistic, but I’m pretty sure if this comes back to the UK and AJ gets a good camp in, with a proper game plan of fighting at distance and popping stiff jabs and one two’s into Ruiz, breaking him down slowly, AJ wins his belts back in dominant fashion.

He just wasn’t right last night. I knew it as soon as I saw him in the ring. Was slumped in the corner during the intros, gumshield hanging out, looking down at the floor. Something was wrong. He even said to McCracken “why do I feel like this?”. Some fighters just don’t travel. How often has Wilder faced a live opponent outside of the US?

 

Joshua lost everything after the first knockdown. He was concussed/gassed. Its easier to shine against such an opponent. But Joshua has to blame himself for it.

Ruiz didnt school him in round 1 and 2. Joshua could have played it safe instead.

 

I don’t think he should go for the automatic rematch. If he has the desire, he needs to adjust his style which probably means a change of trainer and build his way back. Don’t even think about Ruiz for the next 18-24 months, barely acknowledge the existence Fury and Wilder for 3-5 years.

With that said, I think Joshua is too much of a cash generator and that, regardless of what happens in an immediate rematch with Ruiz, he won’t take that time to learn and develop and will end up beaten again and again over the next few years. Given his overly nonchalant reaction to the loss, I just can’t see him being someone who is willing to graft like Lewis and Wlad Klitschko did to develop themselves from good to great heavyweight boxers.

 

Sanders was a hard hitting, dangerous and largely avoided world class boxer. He was a live underdog vs wlad. Ruiz is nowhere near him.

 

Then how do you score rounds? The whole sport is based on being able to outbox someone in one round.

 

COMPLETELY OUT-BOXING someone requires one to thoroughly outbox an opponent over multiple rounds of a fight and not just a single round. Any boxer can lose a single round, it doesn't mean they were COMPLETELY OUT-BOXED. That's like saying Mike Tyson won one round against Lennox Lewis and therefore he COMPLETELY OUT-BOXED him.

Corrie Sanders wasn't even winning the round, before he dropped Wladimir Klitschko. So this idea that he COMPLETELY out-boxed Wlad is a total myth. Wlad landed multiple punches on Sanders, before Sanders landed his left hand that stunned Wlad. If anything, it was Wlad who was out-boxing Sanders due to landing more punches.

If you want to take me up on a punch-count analysis (before the knockdown), then be my guest.

 

I think the Brewster fight is a better comparison here. People thought the Sanders KO was a setback but not fatal to Wladimir's career. But after Brewster, he had lost all confidence and nearly retired. I think Joshua is closer to that, given how little belief he seemed to have at the conclusion of the fight or after the fight. He needs to be rebuilt.