Good post, but tentative?? Every single poster on here were saying Ruiz would KO him easier that time. And AJ schooled him 12-0 and showed a side of him no one even think it was possible. Boxing on the rear foot beautiful. People were saying that AJ can't change his style in few months and doesnt have good job and can't fight on the back foot, etc, etc and he proves them all wrong and as usual he get no credit after the fight as excuses started to fly around.
Can people saying "post Wlad, pre Ruiz" explain how it can be an "era" when a 50/50 fight is on the horizon? Did Deontay Wilder and the "fight of the century" cease to exist in your minds because Fury splattered him?
There was no AJ era. It was a mirage. A manufactured bum dosser. He got gifted a corrupt gold medal Bought his first title belt Got gifted a bunch of belts Lost all of said belts 2015-2024 is the era of Fury AJ had a chance to make a small era for himself but before that happened Fury had already come back and scalped Wilder.
Simple, from beating Martin until losing to Ruiz AJ was the favourite against any boxer on the planet, had unified 3 belts and was the face of boxing. It wasn't a 50/50 fight at the time. Wilder was a joke. AJ was the leader of the era.
I still fondly remember the multiple "The bigger Ruiz is, the easier the rematch will be" threads. Dumbasses were absolutely certain that Ruiz got better the fatter he was. And that with a full camp he would have no issues with Joshua. When in reality Ruiz was lucky to surprise Joshua and take full advantage of that.
Tentative compared to the approach a lot of people thought he would take, thinking he'd be looking to avenge the TKO with a TKO or KO of his own, he did box nicely but it was a bit of a gun-shy performance from AJ - especially given the condition Ruiz came into that fight. It seemed like he took the patience he was lacking in the first fight to the extreme in the second fight, if he had tried to I'm sure he could have sparked Ruiz that night
Joshua created no era. A true champion doesnt lose with a fat man in that way and doesnt win in the rematch hit and running for 12 rounds. The new era of HWs boxing is Olexander Usyk, he made the impossible.
So the "Joshua era" is a popularity contest? Is it still his era, then? You're saying an 9-3 clear loss where an inferior but bigger boxer didn't go all out to pressure a superior boxer is one of a fighters best performances? Very interesting stuff.
He was/is part of the Big 3 giants era with Wilder and Fury. None of the men in that group had an era to their own though.
Joshua wouldn't have been the favorite against Klitschko in the summer of '16. Bookies had a prospective Wilder-Joshua fight close enough all the way up until Fury splattered him. It was absolutely a 50-50 fight. Did you follow HW boxing then? Everyone was calling it "the fight of the century". There's STILL demand despite both guys taking many losses.
He was never clearly the best HW on the planet, not even for a 2 year reshuffling period between '17-'19.
Joshua fought and beat the better fighters. Wilder resume when he was champion outside of Fury was laughable.
Yes, from a technical standpoint it was one of Joshuas best performances. If you think that his only gameplan should have been to bum rush Joshua then good for you. I have nothing else to say.