Whose win over AJ is more valuable; Ruiz or Usyk?

Usyk. One can argue that Ruiz' win was a flash in the pan, that AJ was already concussed from sparring etc. AJ came back and whitewashed Ruiz afterwards to lend some credence to that theory. Usyk gave AJ a drubbing the first time and came back to get the second W against an even better prepared AJ. He proved that skills pay the bills and that he didn't need to cash in on a stunned AJ.

 

AJ looked really bad in that fight with Ruiz even before he got dropped. I know he dropped Ruiz with that left hook, right uppercut, left hook combo. But prior to that, he was really struggling to land his jab. He landed some to Ruiz's head, but he started just poking it to the body to just try to get any kind of rhythm going with it. Ruiz was doing a good job moving his head a bit, parrying it and making it fall short with his careful steps. And Ruiz was able to counter a few times over that jab with quick combinations. Ruiz was controlling the distance and rhythm from the beginning. You could tell that even if Joshua wanted to control the fight from the outside with his jab, he was conceding much more ground than he was comfortable with.

In the Usyk rematch fight, Joshua seemed more seasoned albeit with much more mental baggage. But he landed some good body shots on the inside that roughed Usyk up. He caught Usyk with some lead straight rights when he stopped moving his feet. I feel like he could have done much better if he just threw some stiff, hard one-two combinations instead of trying to fence so much with a master boxer. Still, he was able to make it somewhat competitive and gave Usyk a few scares.

It might be an unpopular opinion, but I would rank the Usyk's victory in the rematch, at least, above Ruiz's win. Joshua's stock and confidence had already gone down significantly at that point, but I think that was the best performance in had in a long time; albeit in a loss.

 

In my opinion, I would have to say Andy Ruiz, when Anthony Joshua fought Ruiz, he was supposed to win and move on to a possible showdown with Deontay Wilder, not taking anything away from Usyk's victory later over Joshua but when Andy fought AJ, there was more prestige to their fight, AJ was favored, as it turned out, it was a big upset.

 

While Ruiz was the first to do it, he was clearly fighting an unfocused Joshua who didn't take the poster boy for Pilsbury bakeries seriously.

Usyk in contrast took on a Joshua who knew he was in for a tough fight against Usyk and even if he didn't he definitely knew in the rematch and was still schooled.

Usyk dominated AJ both times while Ruiz had to get up of the canvas and rely on his power to bail him out and turn the fight and then lost the rematch. So Usyk's wins for me are more impressive.

 

About even.

It s not like AJ was a completely different fighter in those fights.

 

Usyk's twice outboxing a focussed Joshua in his hometown beats a fluke KO followed by a complete whitewash defeat in the rematch.

 

Joshua's been in decline for a while, those Takam and Parker fights were a massive red flag. Both Ruiz and Usyk just took advantage of a fighter who's been exempted for using certain drugs for health reasons. The Joshua before the before the Wlad fight was much more explosive, and definitely was all about forcing the stoppage before the 12th round. Maybe the Wlad knockdown changed his game, but he isn't the same fighter. Peaked early.

 

Ruiz Jr. Because AJ was thought unstoppable and the biggest thing in boxing at that time, and Ruiz Jr was seen a fat blob who was expected to be knocked out by AJ in early rounds. however, Ruiz Jr knocked him down 4 times and then TKOed him and stirred the division. It was a crazy and shocking fight.

Usyk's win was by points, there were no knock downs. And AJ had already been broken by Ruiz Jr, by the time Usyk beat him.

 

And he did it moving up a division.

 

Usyk didn`t get floored by AJ.

 

Ruiz was floored by AJ then capitalized on AJ being open rushing in to finish him off, then he ruined that vicory by being out-boxed in the rematch while Usyk rubber stamped his win over AJ by beating him again leaving Usyk rated much higher than Ruiz is right now. Having said all this I feel outside of Fury Ruiz is the only heavyweight that can beat Usyk, his quick combos may lead to him eventually tagging Usyk, even a broken clock is right at least one time a day and he works the body better than AJ did v Usyk, he simply a bette body puncher than AJ, he`d have a great chance v Usyk, would like to see that fight, forget about AJ he`s finished.

 

Ruiz Jr was floored by AJ, then got up and KTFOed him. It was a better win than Usyk's.

 

This was talked about back when the Wlad fight happened. Joshua showed in a few fights that stamina was an issue for him, and the change in his approach to fighting was evident.
But he improved as a boxer after facing Wlad and I say that with full confidence. Joshua´s peak was not in 2017.

 

"knocked him the **** out"
No, no he did not.
And by no means was it a better win as Ruiz failed to repeat it. There is a strong argument that Ruiz simply got lucky that night.