Anthony Joshua boxed his way to a unanimous decision win over Andy Ruiz Saturday in Saudi Arabia, regaining four straps (WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO) that were on loan to the portly Ruiz who tipped the scales at 283 lbs., the second heaviest combatant to fight for the heavyweight title.
Joshua weighed 237 lbs., 10 pounds lighter than their first fight, won by Ruiz via seventh round KO.
What did AJ do differently? JAB, JAB and JAB again. 72% of Joshua's thrown punches and 61% of his landed punches vs. Ruiz in the rematch were jabs. The table below compares Joshua's punch distribution vs. Ruiz in the rematch to his output in previous stages of his career.
Also included is a look at the stats of Wladimir Klitschko in his last 17 fights (post Brewster I) to stats from his 10 fights before his KO loss to Brewster.
PUNCH DISTRIBUTION
(%= pct. of jabs thrown/power punches thrown)
PUNCHES THROWN
( ) avg. per round
ANTHONY JOSHUA
JABS POWER
vs. Ruiz II 72% (23) 28% (9)
prev. 5 fights-* 60% (20) 40% (15)
pre-Klitschko-** 44% (21) 56% (28)
Hvt. avg. 41% (21) 59% (24)
WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO
JABS POWER
last 17 fights 63% (26) 37% (15)
previous 10 61% (28) 39% (19)
Prior to the Klitschko fight, 44% of Joshua's thrown punches were jabs. In the rematch with Ruiz, 72% of Joshua's thrown punches were jabs- a 28% increase. Joshua's power punch output was also down 28% from the pre-Klitschko fights. Joshua threw 12% more jabs vs. Ruiz II than in his previous 5 fights. Joshua threw 15 fewer power shots vs. Ruiz II (9) than the heavyweight avg. (24). In his last 17 fights (following the KO loss to Lamon Brewster), 63% of W. Klitschko's thrown punches were jabs.
PUNCHES LANDED
( ) avg. per round
ANTHONY JOSHUA
JABS POWER
vs. Ruiz II 61% (5) 39% (4)
prev. 5 fights 54% (6) 46% (6)
pre-Klitschko 39% (7) 61% (11)
CompuBox avg. 27% (5) 73%(10)
WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO
JABS POWER
last 17 fights 57%(8) 43%(6)
previous 10 44% (8) 56%(10)
61% of Joshua's landed punches vs. Ruiz II were jabs, up 22% from his pre-Klitschko fights. Joshua landed less than half the heavyweight avg. for power punches vs. Ruiz II (4) than the heavyweight avg. (10). 57% of Klitschko's landed punches were jabs in his last 17 fights. Klitschko threw 13% fewer power punches in his last 17 fights than in his previous 10 fights. Klitschko landed just 6 power punches per round in his last 17 fights.
*- previous 5 fights: Ruiz I, Povetkin, Parker, Takam, Klitschko
**- pre-Klitschko opponents: Molina, Breazeale, Martin, Whyte