AJ is shook. AJ has not mentally recovered and won't be heavyweight champ ever again. Ruiz has his number.
Is it possible to stick and run all night? Yes. AJ did this with Parker quite a lot. Do I think he can avoid Ruiz the whole fight? Nope.
Too many question marks for AJ. The bigger man got backed up all night. Didn't look right. He nor his corner could see Ruiz Jr. landed when he looped his shots, or overhands? Each knockdown was preceded by combinations that were looping shots IMO, next to nothing inside. Yes Ruiz has fast hands, but seem overly predictable.If AJ can put on some ear muffs (keep that guard almost Winky/Ike Quartey style), Ruiz lands very few shots. But is that something that can be learned or incorporated into AJ's defense? He's not Tyson fast, upstairs downstairs, hook to the body, followed by an uppercut upstairs (mixing it up) When Ruiz landed combos they were lunging shots that looped , again AJ team couldn't adjust. Ruiz gets beats probably by Fury or Wilder, but AJ had too many openings he couldn't take advantage of, let alone a looping lunging fat chaloopa who backed him up as if AJ was a toddler with no power, size or height.
nah, I actually think that AJ is having his 5 mins of fame. his career is actually gonna turn out like audley harrison. look at Audley's career after he took his first KO loss... everything went down hill.... he was exposed. Same with David Price.
Well I guess we’ll find out soon. One loss can easily be recovered from when you consider he’s still a relative novice with 22 pro fights or something, but a second loss, and I’d tend to agree with you. The fraud claims would defo carry weight.
He won't need to stick and run all night. He just needs to not engage with Ruiz and keep things long. He has the power to keep Ruiz honest with his jab and stop him from getting too confident, after which the fight is very much his to lose.
Joshua has already achieved way more than either Audley or Price, and been hurt and tested a lot more too. Price was never seriously hurt until the Thompson fight, and he couldn't recover. Same with Audley I believe. I used to believe AJ was a hypejob, but hypejobs don't get wins against Wlad, Parker, and Povetkin. Whatever he does from here on out he's done more than enough to shake off that unfair label.
Joshua was done after the discombobulating shot from Ruiz. Ruiz needs to land that shot again to win or the judges will hand it to AJ. Joshua will be extremely cautious and force fatboy to make the fight. This will be a very different fight but Ruiz needs to finish it because the judges will be Adelaide Byrd style.
Let me rephrase this question: if this ends up as a boring jab fest who is going to get the decision. Be realistic.
Yep. Unless it’s screamingly obviously one sided in Ruiz’s favour you would imagine Joshua will get the nod.
AJ wasn't able to keep his eyes open when Ruiz threw combinations. His squinting in anticipation of punches essentially left him blind to rapid-fire striking. Ruiz made AJ overly concerned about getting hit. It was probably the most by far AJ has ever been hit to the head in one fight, and I can't see him reacting to Ruiz's attacks any differently in the rematch.
I think AJ will learn and grow mentally stronger from that crushing defeat and show a better version of himself in the rematch. If he gets knocked out again it will seriously derail his career long-term.
