Tonyhayers is always quiet the week of a matchroom show. Maybe he carries the boxes of jd T-shirt’s a la penfold?
Ruiz should just put it on Joshua from the opening bell, as Collins did to Eubank in the rematch. Joshua will have only have three ways to react to fight, flight or freeze. This has become a mental battle and Joshua is in real danger of overthinking and over-analyzing what Ruiz is going to do instead of focussing on his own strengths. Whoever takes the centre of the ring and dictates the pace in the first round wins the fight for me.
His internet doesn't roam as far as Saudi and Hearn won't buy him more credit because Dillian Whyte is now on the card and needs a hefty wedge.
I do that with several people on here. As I’ve said, there’s a guy on here who I’ve honestly not even responded to for what feels like months. He’s not on ignore so I can read what he says. He’s constantly talking about me. Often in the context of gay sex. It’s very, very weird.
The ifl interview, I think it was the Jonny Nelson one yesterday, the "they're all snydes" vid. Either koogs or Jonny said" there was 10 members from sky sat at the breakfast table and only koogs is the one now picking A.J" It shows the vibes that are getting passed around out there in saudi!!
There’s a touch of the Amir Khan now about AJ. He just looks shaky and I really don’t like that he has dropped so much weight for this fight. Yes, he needed to improve his cardio, but he is going to need power and strength to hold off this Mofo and I worry he might be depleted. Ruiz will put it on him from round 1 IMO and I’m not sure AJ can cope with him. We know already he struggles against shorter guys and Andy is like a pit bull terrier...I hope I’m wrong, but the closer we get to it, I’ve gone from it being a 50/50 to a 60/40 to now 70/30 in favour of a Ruiz stoppage , but I will be cheering for AJ to land a haymaker.
I think the only way Ruiz loses is if he doesn't have the same determination he had in the first fight. When he was hit by a big punch, or possibly hurt by AJ his response was to comeback with fast combinations AJ couldn't cope with. If he responds in this same way AJ will lose again, he might try to be more cautious but at some point he has to engage and Ruiz has an answer. If Ruiz doesn't have that same fire he will be in trouble. The remark about Ruiz having no respect in the ring for AJ was interesting, he knows AJ can lay a big punch on him but he can take it, then counter with dangerous combinations. Ruiz has the beating of him in his mind, its just depends what shape he is in, I didn't like hearing him admit he might weigh more than expected then play it of with the old "I'm going for extra strength"....
He sounds to me like he's spent far too much time with sports psychologists. The way he talks is just a bit strange, it's not the usual vernacular of a fighter. I think due to the money that's been put into him they've left no stone unturned with modern training techniques and sports psychology. Compare how AJ speaks to Dillian Whyte, Tyson Fury or Andy Ruiz - it's completely different. Ruiz by contrast sounds totally focussed but doesn't speak about the fight in the strange, slightly unnatural, way that AJ does.
I’d be cautious about assuming that because Ruiz has taken shots from Joshua that he can take everything Joshua can throw at him. Hasim Rahman took a fair few shots from Lennox Lewis and took the lot before two landed that he couldn’t deal with. It’s a cliche, and not necessarily true in every case, but every heavyweight boxer is physically made of the same material, and just about every one of them has the power to end it. If I was Ruiz, I’d certainly be trying to stay as far away as possible from the notion that I can take whatever is coming.
We’ll know soon but I wonder how much weight is ‘so much weight.’ If Joshua comes in at 235 that’s a sizeable drop all things considered, but only seven pounds less than he was for Parker. Or in other terms, Joshua is still a sixteen and three quarter stone giant and his weight loss amounts to about two and a half percent of his body weight.
Yeah he certainly doesn't want to give AJ shots he doesn't need to, overconfidence there could be very dangerous. the point is though, if he did take a decent shot from AJ his mindset in the first fight was to immediately answer with a flurry, and this nearly always hurt AJ. If Ruiz has that same mindset AJ will be in for a tough night. AJ has to hope Ruiz climbed that mountain so wont have the same mentality, probably clutching at straws though.