I agree, totally, the lights were on but nobody was home after that shot behind the ear. I said the same on Sunday. I believe the first 2 rounds were sloppy from AJ and Ruiz looked the more dangerous but that’s beside the point. Klitschko hit Joshua with the same shot, a left hook at the side of the head which had him out on his feet and led to him eating a huge straight right in the next round that floored him. My point is, Joshua dug deep and showed unbelievable heart to hang in there with a much bigger puncher than Ruiz btw & dug out a famous victory. However, Saturday reminded me of this old saying, ‘it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog’. I hope he gets it back so we can see the fights with Fury, Wilder, Whyte etc.
Obviously Ruiz was able to catch up to him after badly hurting him with that shot on the inside. Thats missing the point though.
I'm struggling to grasp your point. Your point seems to be Ruiz badly hurt him early and as a result hurt him late therefore Joshua will easily beat him next time.
Joshua was on bambi legs after being hurt. Of course Ruiz will be able to chase him down and finish him in that situation. He's got no balance and little coordination left in that state. If he hurts him similarly in the second fight I'm sure Ruiz will finish Joshua again. In the rematch however Joshua definitely wont offer up his head on a platter like he did in the first fight. Ruiz will have to work extremely hard to land that shot, and I don't think he will. With all his faculties intact and switched on to a dangerous opponent, at his best Joshua easily takes the rematch IMO. Feel free to disagree though.
Its really a shame they have these rematch clause's, I would have loved to see Ruiz fight Wilder or Fury next.
Kid has a point though, if the tubby Mexican hadnt taken Joshua’s heart, beaten him up all over the ring, knocked him down four times and made him quit, AJ would have definitely won the fight easily.
If they insist on rematching Ruiz, this would gain huge respect from me. Bringing it back to Britain is failure in many ways. AJ is/was unified heavyweight champion of the world. If he's that good, he should beat Ruiz in Ruiz's back garden.
They shouldn't be allowed. In this case, I'm happy we get to see the rematch of a good fight, but we don't need a rematch clause for that. Rematch clauses are completely unethical, for a number of reasons.
People who are saying Joshua was a dead duck after the 3rd round are correct but only because Ruiz Jr. was both TOUGH and savvy enough to make that the case. After the 3rd round, Joshua actually landed some of his best shots. Shots that would have bailed him out of similar trouble against most other heavyweights in the world. But Ruiz had the toughness and the smarts to keep his plan in place and make Joshua unravel further and further. Joshua will do well to beat this guy. Anything is possible. But I reckon Ruiz will win it.
I’m really excited about the prospect of this rematch. Fury v Wilder 2 is mouthwatering but I never thought a Ruiz vs Joshua match-up could rival it for anticipation. Joshua’s going to have to take a leaf out of Fury’s book if he’s to win and try and nullify his opponent with the jab, feints and clinching. Not as easy to do when you don’t have a fraction of the skill of Fury.
