Tbh i still think the whole ruiz experience has left team joshua in turmoil. Joshua done what he needed to do....but its pretty clear hes not nearly as good as hes been billed as. To get the win against an even fatter ruiz....he had to work harder than hes ever worked in camp...bring in two new coaches. Get down in weight. Train relentlessly on the gameplan. It doesnt bode well for the future. Even his wins are starting to look a bit shaky. With breazeale getting knocked out in one against wilder. Molina knocked out in 2 against hrgovic. Parker beating by whyte. Whyte starting to look average. Povetkin getting a bit of a gift against hunter. Klitchko being 42. The heavyweight divisions pretty decent on a competetive level atm....half decent depth to it....but lets be honest the levels not exactly great. Decent boys getting ready to retire. And the up and comers a bit too young atm. I think its time to take on fury and wilder now tbh. Theres not that much else left that we,ve not seen before. Hes showed to be better than the rest barring wilder and fury. No where else to turn now. Tbh i m not sure it,ll end well for him. Someone will do a ruiz on him again thats another underdog or fury and wilder will beat him for me. But who really knows till we find out. I actually think its a bad thing their looking to change him up so much depending on the opponent. To implement that gameplan last night....he had to be a bit too thin for himself. It wont work when hes at 255 lbs. Their gonna need to pick a game plan before even the training camp starts way before the first bell goes. If it doesnt work there isnt gonna be a plan b. I reckon he,ll get caught between two styles at one point as well. The success with the style of the ruiz fight could also turn problematic. It went great last night but ruiz wasnt up to much tbh. A bigger guy will be able to touch joshua up....hes gonna be too thin...not strong enough for a proper war. If i was joshuas team i,d go for wilder after one more. I actually think theres more chance of someone beating joshus in an upset than therd is of joshuz beating wilder. Wilders flawed himself. He wont lkke fighting a guy thats got the same reach as him thats fsst and dangerous with it. I,d go with the boxing style but either style could get it down.
Apologise I’ve not read the thread. He’s not in a good place, mental he’s scared to get hit. This was already evident in the Parker fight, the ref literally wouldn’t let them fight. Ruiz has taken all his confidence away. Ruiz just did what a lot of other fighters would have. Aj boxed the perfect fight, I love boxing, not fighting so all for that, hit and don’t be hit etc at the risk it ridicule, i genuinely though Hughie beat Parker. Anyway, aj is gonna have to turn klitchsko (spelling) like when he fights, but I honestly don’t think he’s a good enough boxer to do so. Wilder will KO him, he’s to unorthodox for aj. Fury will play with him. Aj will beat anyone else, but if they hit him he will panic and anyone half decent (Ruiz first fight) should make him pay. You can make a decent boxer but you can’t fix a bad chin.
Joshua will be around for years yet. People always go overboard about a loss but its doesnt massively impede a boxers career, I mean look at Ali, Tyson, Lewis, Holyfield, Wlad and they all. Had losses, most of them multiple losses in which they got a lot of big fights after. Joshua is in his prine years and will have plenty of big fights, he might lose some but what we found out last night is that he can adapt, his stamina was fine in a boxing match and losing some muscle mass has improved him. He looked in better condition, had more stamina, his footwork was better, his countering was better and his punches were a whole lot smoother than theyve ever been. He fought to a very well planned out strategy which completely nullified Ruiz to the point he lost every single round and never looked in trouble. At times he fought his own instinct to get into a brawl which was impressive as well. At the end of the day it was a great performance from Joshua and if it has been Fury with an exact replica of thag fight would be getting prised for how great a boxer he is. But fans hold Joshua to a higher regard so they expect him. To brawl with a guy who beat him up when he tried that tactic last time instead of adapting and improving his game.
It wasn’t the most exciting fight to be honest. We can all talk about how effective it was and so on but one guy drifting without issue to a massively wide points win, without ever looking troubled, without any doubt he was miles ahead, with no knockdowns, isn’t the sort of fight people will talk about down the line. We learned a few things though. Joshua’s popularity is still absolutely stratospheric. He’s got the ability to clearly adapt considerably depending on opponent. He’s back to being number one in the division. As a fan of Joshua’s it’s a good end to the year. What’s the score with Wilder Fury II? That’s taking ages to announce?
I genuinely think Al Haymon was hoping to announce Wilder v Ruiz Jnr with Fury taking a cheeky backhander to sit the rematch out and fight the undisputed winner
Might happen if he’s getting clearly outpointed, but there was no chance of him losing so no need to. The exciting thing with Joshua against someone like Fury is whether he can launch into a far more aggressive mode as the fight goes on if needed, and if Fury can just keep him off regardless if Fury’s winning.
Oh absolutely. Anyone suggesting that wasn’t a likely scenario is probably dumb enough to think Ruiz intentionally weighed in at more than twenty stone, or had weights under his hat and so on.
Imagine if Joshua vacates the WBO title, Usyk and Fury would be mandated to fight for the vacant belt. Ruiz could then be used as cannon fodder for Wilder. There are huge power plays going on behind the scenes that we ordinary folk are not privy too.
He stepped up on the gas and went in for the kill in the 5th which back fired. He showed guts, composure, maturity, patience in sticking behind the jab from 7-10 and getting his legs back. Klitschko was happy to see the fight out with him. There wasn’t the kind of tactical adjustment Ryan is alluding to. That version of AJ was very one dimensional...it was a come forward, jab, jab, straight right, upper cut on the inside version, where he would then produce a devastating finish. On Saturday, he boxed like Luke Campbell. It was night and day to what we’re accustomed to. What I’m wondering now is is Saturday ‘the new AJ style’ or will he go back to his old style but use Saturday’s style as his new ‘plan B’ mid-fight adjustment (when needed)?
I’ve always thought the power and early knockouts did his boxing a bit of a disservice. He’s not some elite mover of course but the basics look fine. I think we can tend to lump fighters into two groups based on how many people they stop. Low power = slick boxer, high power = crude banger. It’s never really that simple. For me the biggest change was him charging in after dropping Klitschko and nearly losing. I’ve no doubt that if the day comes and he finds himself seven or eight rounds behind then if the engine has it the plan can be changed to ‘take his head off.’ This is Wilder’s gameplan in seemingly every fight anyway.
Seeing a report on the BBC website stating that AJ had an operation / procedure after the first fight, though no details of what it was. Any ideas?
that was a whithered old ghost version of shot to pieces retired old VLAD and he still went life and death with the grey haired old man
they put him under the knife to try and find his chin and his heart and were unsuccessful. They also had a look for his gastank while they were in there but again no dice unfortunately
