Andy Ruiz affected Joshua's confidence

He was so scared he knocked him down four times and stopped him, man. I know. I saw the fear in his eyes. :lol1: :lol1: :lol1: Lol...... Some rival fans are crazy as fccxk. AJ is a much improved boxer, learning the act of patience in taking opponents down. A mistake he did in Ruiz 1.

If he was scared, he wouldn't have gone for broke in round 3. He fought smarter. That's not being scared. If he lost rounds or got rocked, I could understand, but in the fight I saw, he dominated from basically the second round. I agree completely, he is a smarter fighter who has a better understanding of his own weaknesses. Why give a chance to a guy who doesnt have one? He is a much better fighter than the Joshua who fought Klitschko.

He was so scared he knocked him down four times and stopped him, man. I know. I saw the fear in his eyes. :lol1: :lol1: :lol1: So no difference at all to you from the Joshua that fought Klitschko to the current version? Fair enough if you don't. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

I dont think so, the people who feel this way want him to fail in my opinion. Ruiz has made him aware. He made him aware of his vulnerabilities - and quite frankly Pulev is one of those guys you cant tell if he is truly hurt, it can get you sucker punched. I think Joshua is a much better fighter now

Haters are real. A man fights cautious not to be punched in the face while at the same time landing power shots and uppercuts is not fighting scared. You can't really please your rival fans even if its a round 1 KO.

For sure. As another poster mentioned he got caught in psychological warfare when he should be focused on his boxing. To be fair to him he as the best resume at HW and has been in some great fights.

He demolished him, what fight were you watching instead? You didn't notice any tentativeness?

Definitely, he’s 2nd best no doubt But it’s a very weak era 1. Fury 2. Joshua 3. all others Under top 2 we have the water full of sharks, anybody can fall or raise. It is a weak era, but competitive under championship level.

We live in a strange world. The guy with a list of top 10 opponent title wins is no good. The guy who has never defended a belt is proven. Whether he beats Fury or not, surely he's proven he's a worthy champion by now? The eye test ****ing matters. There have been plenty of fighters who have accumulated a bunch of wins against respectable fighters and come up short against greats. This was similar to Dubois, although his opponents were considerably worse than Joshua's, he looked spectacular fighting guys below his level but comes up short against the true heavy hitters.

He is still better than the most of other guys around. Definitely, he’s 2nd best no doubt But it’s a very weak era

I think it’s really down to Fury. It sounds very much like wilder isn’t in the way and talks begin Monday. The only thing I would say, is that it wouldn’t be bad if both had fights March/April and the. The fight was July/August - just because hopefully by then we could get a huge crowd again. I suspect they will delay the fight to mid year anyway for that reason Yes don't see the fight happening in 3-4 months time. Joshua is his own man, and knows he needs to work on things before facing Fury 'I think he WANTS to face Usyk first'. That is some great preparation Pulev & Usyk.

I was not overly impressed with Joshua tonight, but he still scored a legitimate knock out. Note: I think Joshua will face Uysk next, I honestly believe he wants more preparation for Tyson Fury. I think it’s really down to Fury. It sounds very much like wilder isn’t in the way and talks begin Monday. The only thing I would say, is that it wouldn’t be bad if both had fights March/April and the. The fight was July/August - just because hopefully by then we could get a huge crowd again. I suspect they will delay the fight to mid year anyway for that reason

He's fought more cautiously since Wlad. I have no problem with him fighting smarter.

Not saying he’s a bad fighter, quite the contrary BUT AJ always wears his discouragment & fears front of his face, for all to see. It’s entirely obvious abd something he needs to work on. We all fear. That’s natural. But he shouldn’t put it on front street. He could never make it as a poker player!

Note: I think Joshua will face Uysk next, I honestly believe he wants more preparation for Tyson Fury. I think this too. He wants another fight or two to get back to pre-Ruiz confidence levels and genuinely wants to hold on to all his titles. Usyk is more beatable than Fury and it will also force Fury to go into another risky fight as Top Rank will not allow him to fight bums anymore. But also if the fight with Fury is there to be made he may just take it. Think of it as trading the WBO for the WBC.

Joshua didn`t make the same mistake than in the first Ruiz fight. He understood Pulev was still strong so he fought carefully. If he went to kill in 4-5 th round, Pulev could have stopped him. It was dangerous fight still.

The moment you slack off and take an opponent for granted, guys like Ruiz become champs.

He looked tentative and unsure at times in there tonight against a 40-year-old. He demolished him, what fight were you watching instead?

you dont need confidence to be a pro boxer

I would say Andy made him SMARTER! Made him raise his BOXING IQ! Just slow things down, be patient with that jab and in being patient with that Jab he can kind of dictate the pace of the fight and not gas himself out trying to score the big impressive KO I mean he is already popular and a huge draw so who is he still trying to impress at this point in his career? Internet People? :dunno: Vs Ruiz and Pulev, he had the right strategy clearly regardless if it wasn't as Entertaining. He don't need to be the AJ that was rising up the Ranks knocking everybody out anymore. He has EVERYTHING TO LOSE now so yes he show switch things up and fight SMARTER and yes Protect what he has worked hard for which is all those Belts Despite all the B^tching and Complaining...we're still going to watch! Still going to watch AJ vs Fury, still would watch AJ vs Wilder, AJ vs Usyk or whoever so he should STICK with what he is doing and ignore the Internet Critics who are mostly Trolls who don't like the man anyway and want to see him fall again