Ruiz fast hands in the short distance are cryptonite for Joshua. He jabbed and grabbed although he also connected some good power shots.
He clinched a lot when Ruiz got close to him. Avoided engaging as much as possible.
Not a "top notch" performance in any way. He won but barely legally.
I was rooting for him but you can't say that was brillant.
Legally!? WTH does this mean!??
Why is it that we have this preconceived notion that "boxing" is all about knocking the other guy out and not about actual "boxing". AJ "boxed" clever and fought the only way you can with Ruiz's style, I mean hell dude, do ya think Fury/Wilder/et al trade with Ruiz up close like AJ did in the first!?
Imho - AJ had two plans to deal with Ruiz - plan a was to school him by using the jab on the outside and moving - boxing smart. Plan B was to see if Ruiz tires as the fight wore on and then look to unload. No two ways about it, Joshua was fearful of a repeat, but he fought with a style that isn't his normal way in his pro career, though actually fighting the way he did last night was a replica that won him the Olympic gold in 2012.
The performance was as good as it needed to be and for a guy who normally trades more on the inside, I actually thought it was a top-notch performance, given how he had to fight with a different style to all his pro bouts, bar 1.
Jeez, what about the poster whose father put his $85k savings on a Ruiz win - Feel for the guy if he really did put on that amount of money. Ruiz really let the side down.
no one has a "preconceived notion" that you have to knock a guy out...the issue/problem is/was that the same people claiming "great performance" have knocked other fighters for the same type of performance.....you cant run around calling certain guys "boring" and "*******" and then cry "masterclass" when one of your idols does the same thing....thats not a fan of the sport
these same fgts(and yes i use that term tightly) will laugh at wilder for losing rounds ...yet he always knocks his guy down or out....and gives the fans a treat....yet they brag about all the money AJ makes and how widler is poor and has no fans or nobody watching...yet wilder always delivers guys on their rear ends....AJ fans are the most twisted of insecure fgtry ive ever seen.....i would have no beef with AJ or anything he does if it wasnt for his online fanbase of howling qweers
Yeah I get your points and they are all valid and the web is a breeding ground for casuals that watch a fighter cause they fall into the trap of believing everything they hear from biased media - however, first and foremost I support AJ as I'm British and a patriot, but I also think that Wilder is the most dangerous HW on the planet right now - he isn't a great boxer, but he delivers the most devasting punch in the world - the web is a bedrock for everything that is both good and bad about boxing fans imo.
I am more open-minded as to who really is the best out there - right now AJ has as much chance as anyone to beat Wilder, but if he gets caught, then it's goodnight Vienna and given the fact that Fury done a number on Wilder, he still was lucky to walk away from that fight with a split decision, so based on that fight, if Wilder lands on Joshua, then it's over - However if AJ's defence is up to task and he can avoid Wilder's right, then I could easily see AJ winning. Fury is another matter - AJ isn't in his class when it comes to boxing and I can't stand Fury.
Excessive clinching is not legal.
I haven't watched a re-run of the fight, and the rose-tinted specs were on a bit last night, I'll admit - however I didn't recall excessive clinching that warranted "barely legal". I have seen far worse over the years that's for sure. I am though prepared to stand corrected if we can see some concrete info to back it up and not just someone's subjective view.
First post ever here, though long time lurker.
I'm an AJ fan, though i'm not blinded like some - I see this fight as one hell of an intriguing battle.
If Ruiz is really 20+ stone, then regardless that's a lot of weight to carry around if he can't get Joshua out of there relatively quickly. Clearly that has to be his gameplan?
My concern(s) for Ruiz would be, that 1 - has he come into this being too overconfident? I mean he took AJ out with relative ease last time out, but we have all speculated that something wasn't right from AJ's perspective last time - imo the left in the 3rd was the punch that decided the fight, a punch that scrambled Joshua's senses for sure. I think maybe Ruiz sees this as more of an easier fight than it actually is and sees him taking out AJ early.
2. Being bigger in Ruiz's case isn't going to make him a bigger banger - Speed makes power and imo, regardless of the public workout showing on the pads - 20+ stone isn't going to make you faster - the laws of physics can't be broken and it isn't like Ruiz has the biggest KO % around. My gut feeling is that Ruiz has possibly taken away the one thing that won him the fight last time out and that is his hand speed - if he gets deep into rounds then I don't see anything but an AJ win.
However, if AJ goes toe to toe, then the same thing will happen again and Ruiz will finish it just like the last.
How much the weight plays a part is either going to be detrimental to Ruiz's tactics or will win him the fight. If AJ is snappier and agile and has found some extra stamina at this lower weight, then he has a chance to box from the outside and keep Ruiz at bay. Right now I can only call this 50/50, but there are question marks over Ruiz's conditioning for a long fight that is for sure.
My concern for Joshua is that Ruiz's style is totally wrong for AJ - not so much the fact that Ruiz works well at close range, but more to do with hand speed - we know already that Ruiz isn't the fastest on his feet, but when in range he delivers some punishing body shots and extra weight behind those hands makes him more formidable, however what noticeable difference will that extra weight carry through to his hand speed? What Joshua has done and proven before that if he carries less weight, he still has power, in fact, he throws faster and speed carries power.
I believe coming in 10lbs lighter works in his favour - he has fought at similar weights before and looked better for it and has never looked great carrying more muscle. At just under 17 stone, Joshua has a much better chance.
I watched through some of his old fights and especially the Dillian Whyte fight - I noticed that AJ got gassed pretty early on in the 2nd after taking a big hit from Whyte, though Joshua worked through the Whyte barrage and composed himself to finish it in the 7th starting with a punch that was just like Ruiz's brain scrambler. It was that same punch that effectively ended it for Whyte and 20 secs later, Whyte was out of there. My point is that that punch that Ruiz delivered was probably better and yet took him another 4 rounds to put Joshua away. Ruiz isn't a one-punch artist, throwing fast combos is his forte, but IF the weight has a detrimental effect on his hand speed, then he has just taken away his biggest asset.
All from what I have heard about Ruiz's training camp not going to plan, ie felt drained, overeating points to him being too overconfident. My question is - if Ruiz doesn't land that left over the top in the 3rd what would have been the outcome of the first fight? I still think that punch played a huge and pivotal role in the fight.
Good first post. I really believe Ruiz thinks he can ice him. I have trouble seeing Joshua as this running machine mover but Joshua can definitely fight smarter.
The weight seems like such a gamble for Ruiz for sure!
Thanks! Tbh I have always felt that this rematch has always been about what Joshua does differently. I haven't given a second thought about what Ruiz needs to do, as he did all he had to in the first fight. Ruiz didn't need to change, so the fact that he came in at 20 stone+ tells me that his camp thinks that they need to get Joshua out early for whatever reason. I look back to the Wlad fight for answers, as that has been the other fight when AJ was teetering on the edge, but still showed enough to finish it as late as the 11th rnd and you can see that if you give Joshua a chance in a fight late on, he will take it.
It is my opinion and I'm sure most others would agree that Wlad was unlucky not to have the extra legs to finish AJ off, but once AJ got that second win I couldn't see anything but a win for him. If Ruiz doesn't get the job done early, then I see an 8th or 9th round stoppage for AJ.