Will Anthony Joshua's losing muscle mass help him with his stamina issues?

yeah, probably

 

Maybe AJ's big muscles are genetic as his lack of stamina is. So maybe not a lot can be done now.

 

In theory it should do, as he was carrying a good 20+ pounds of muscle that his frame doesn't look equipped to carry. I'd have thought that as part of this that extreme endurance training has been the main focus of the camp, along with going back to the basics of using the jab as the primary weapon. He has the physical gifts and the toolset to make the second Ruiz fight a VERY easy night, but saying and doing are two different things.

Still going with Ruiz, I think a lot of AJ's issues are down to mentality and ability to stick to a game plan.

 

Hopefully Ruiz doesn't get KO'd early so this experiment can be played out. It would be hilarious if Joshua lost all the mass and gassed anyway, then got KO'd cold before the world. I personally think stamina is largely based on the internal system, which is why you always see fatties who have good endurance (Fury, Ruiz, Chisora) and leaner guys who gas earlier than expected (Price, Wlad, Mcgregor) but it can obviously be adjusted a bit with training and maybe compensated for.

 

It wont hurt his stamina and will also make him more fluid. Consequence is less weight behind his punches. Fair trade? We shall see

 

Remember he'd trained for jarrell Miller, a limited fighter but a big one. That's the only reason he'd bulked up to that size in my view.

I remember watching Frank Bruno, who had the body of a Greek God but after 7 or 8 rounds used to tighten up as all those muscles burnt through his available energy.

There's probably some kind of sweet spot between mass and muscle for the heavyweight division. Maybe pure muscle isn't the way to go...

 

Losing mass wouldn't have done Bruno much good which is why he never tried it. Remains to be seen if it will have any benefit for Joshua, I doubt he will come in that much lighter anyway. 10lb tops.

 

There definitely is a sweet spot and it's different for each person. Joshua tends to look huge but has so so endurance. He also fights a little bit stiff.

Clearly his camp is trying to improve his endurance and probably quickness.

That's why I find all the comments about Ruiz's body funny. He clearly has a combination of speed, power, endurance and punch resistance that work for him. It may not be the body beautiful but he gets world class performance out of it.

 

His biggest problem is in his head. Andy has scrambled his brain and he’s a sitting duck

 

I think a lot of people make a judgement on the aesthetics, rather than the performance...

 

Absolutely true.

 

Bruno if anything got bigger and heavier as his career went on.

 

So it sounds like we will see a smaller, possibly quicker Joshua.

His camp must have come to the conclusion being lighter and quicker would help against Ruiz.

Should be a great fight.