When Vitali retired in the corner against Byrd with his arm dangling from a thread of muscle, he was labeled a quitter. Boxing pundits were merciless with their estimation of his mettle. It was only after losing to Lennox by cuts while ahead on points that he was redeemed in the eyes of American boxing fans as having true grit and an iron chin. When Joshua repeatedly spit out his gumshield against the instruction of the ref, retreated into the corner again disobeying the instructions of the ref, effectively turned his back on the action, he was labelled a quitter. Boxing fans believed that he wasn't willing to walk through hell to get to the other side because he stopped trying while still lucid and functional. Since then he has lost twice to Usyk, nearly getting stopped in the first and showing reluctance to push the pace in the second. He has just scored a great win over 0-1 MMA fighter Francis Ngannou which has excited the boxing public. Do you need to see him overcome adversity in the ring to wash away the quitter label?
Oh Slyk once again with his hated thread towards AJ. Most boxers shows the back to the refs and goes to hang for the ropes, essentially winning seconds. Not even going to explain that AJ was concussed and if he wanted to quit he would have pulls out a Dubois, stay on his knee till the end of the count and then gets up. AJ was also visibly angry when the refs waved him out. He was simply not in condition, due to the concussion. Only a complete hater will say a fighter who gets up 4 time after being put down is quitting. This content is protected So Fury is a quitter now? Should i even mention that once again he was given a slow count and a huge 22 seconds since he kiss the ground ? The only person to get such a long counts .... Vitali has a shoulder injury which is career threating injury, so quitting is out of the question. Only people who never have ever done any combat sport can say any of this were a quit. This is what i have enough i quit, really is: This content is protected
I don't regard either as quit jobs; Joshua was simply done and was getting battered around the ring by Ruiz; Klitschko had a serious shoulder injury and calling it was the right thing for his career.
This guy is obsessed with Joshua neither were quit jobs. Joshua was getting beaten up and had been down multiple times and was completely done. Vitali had a torn rotator cuff which I actually credit Byrd for BTW for making Vitali miss so many punches but it wasn't a quit job. Both fighters have also shown their mettle in other fights Joshua against Wladimir and Vitali against Lewis.
I think we can all agree AJ is a great guy and role model, sort of like a boy-next-door superhero you wish you could hang around with, maybe introduce to your sister. But having said that, the performance against Ruiz did create a striking example of quit-jobbery. I think what made it worse was the fact that AJ had every advantage including a visually incredible physical advantage over the short fat slob, and as soon as the going got tough, he wanted no more. Sadly it was televised and cannot be removed. And it's there for all to see. It is very obvious in boxing when somebody is fighting to continue and when they are happy to have the fight called off. Body language alone is enough. An example to contrast with AJ here would be Groves in the first Froch fight. In that fight Groves was wild and furious at the fight being stopped early and then complained about the stoppage for a long time afterwards, rightly so. He really did want to continue! AJ wanted the fight to end and accepted that because he didn't want to continue after the obese fill-in got the upper hand. Since then he's obviously showed his bravery, beating young lions like Gold Medallists Povetkin and Pulev and even a young MMA champion still under forty. But that night will haunt his fans forever.
Joshua was getting beat up like he stole something, but he kept rising from the canvas, using veteran tricks like spitting out the mouthpiece and turning his back to the referee to buy himself sometime. When asked if he wanted to continue he clearly said "yes". Only a hater can say he quit. It was ref's decision to stop the fight. Correct decision at that in my opinion. Vitali injured his rotator cuff, hard to fight when every move you make with your hand feels like somebody is drilling your shoulder. He didn't quit either in my opinion, but if we wanted to compare, I would say this is a better example of that. The most funny thing tho is the whole mythology of Vitali never losing the fight in his life, cause he only lost to his body. LOL. Byrd was fighting smart and was slick enough to make Vitali swingin' like crazy, which resulted in the shoulder injury. Older Klitschko was just made out of glass, except for the iron chin. His brother was a 180 degrees opposite, lol.
Joshua didn't quit, he got hit with a powerball jackpot of a shot and couldn't recover. I'm sure a boxer with lesser heart would have been out sooner rather than continuing to get up and try to recover. Not only that, came back and avenged the loss. Also, you can't ever question the heart of a fighter who got up off the deck to stop an ATG champion, that's just an asinine train of thought. Vitali had a legit injury he didn't quit either. Feel like alot of people with these types of opinions have never been in a fight in their lives.
Vitali was injured Aj got his head smashed in by a little fat guy on short notice He couldn't suck it up and weather the storm like Fury or even Wilder, who would rather go out on their shield than quit An embarrassing debut in the states that will never go away no matter how many bin men he stops
I've watched boxing for over 40 years and watched the live televised coverage of the first Ruiz fight at MSG and my first thought as soon as I saw AJ starting his ring walk was: He ain't right, there's something going on and he's not in a good place to be getting in the ring. He looked edgy, nervous, weight of the world on his shoulders, chewing his gum shield like it was an anxiety crutch and you're right, once the fight was done, he couldn't be happier. There were rumours of a sparring concussion, pre fight panic attack, heightened levels of anxiety, even his old man said he shouldn't have gotten into the ring that night. Tyson Fury also made the observation that AJ didn't look right and was in trouble. Now after the defeat, AJ made no excuses and said that the better man won on the night but, plenty in and around AJ a little while afterwards hinted that all was far from well and that all will be revealed when AJ hangs his gloves up. What I'm trying to say is, for all we know, AJ made a supremely brave effort in a fight he was in no shape to be involved in. Maybe we'll never know but, I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. There has never been a boxer in all of the sports history with the same level of expectation and scrutiny as has been levelled at AJ.
AJ fought like he usually fights in the first rounds. He had his man down and was ready to finish him. If it wasn't for the shot on the ear, we wouldn't be talking about concussion, anxiety, panic attack and all the other crap. He got tagged and never recovered. Battled bravely but it wasn't enough. End of.
I voted AJ but I've seen WAY worse. Ryan Garcia ATG quitting vs Tank Allah Mohammed Davis much worse quit job.
