Serious boxing thread - why did Joshua look so bad last night?

[Hype job]

Didn’t take Ruiz seriously and never recovered from the first hard punch that out him down in the 3rd. It happens.

This, that punch in round 3 scrambled his brains it's a punch that's hard to recover from, messed his equilibrium for the whole fight.

Plus he needs a consistent sharp jab that he steps in with, too much pawing.

[Boxing_1013]

I think I pinpointed it to the fact that the temple shot caused him to lose more than just his equilibrium, it sapped his confidence. It was like a switch was flipped and he was overwhelmed with self-doubt which you could see in his eyes from that point on.

Perhaps he had a flashback where in a fight or sparring an opponent landed that punch and he was affected for some time by that punch and knew he was not going to recover quickly this time either.

Add to that the shock that he was now being hurt by a guy that he would never have had a single doubt about beating leading up to the fight.

Thanks man - good post. That story about him getting KOed cold in sparring by David Price is always in the back of my mind when it comes to AJ.

[Combat Talk Radio]

Thanks bro - good analysis. I will look out for this stuff the next time I give that fight a watch.

So I guess when Joshua tried to jab Ruiz kept good distance and was just out of range, which left him open to counters? I'll have to really look for that. Probably the case.

All night long. I was quite impressed with how sneaky Ruiz was with his counters. It looked like Joshua was telegraphing something.

[4truth]

Ruiz has an incredible chin. If he didn’t we’d be having a completely different conversation. Joshua went all in trying to take Ruiz out in the 3rd. Other fights he’s been successful with that but all he got for his trouble last night was a concussion.

When they rematch, Joshua will no doubt be thinking about winning rounds, keeping his distance and conserving energy.

[Raggamuffin]

Was Ruiz better than most people thought?

Bad matchup?

Nerves/etc from his first US fight?

Didn't take training seriously?

Weak chin finally caught up to him?

The result and fight last night was just really puzzling to me - Joshua was getting backed up from the get go by this fat smaller guy lol. It was just odd to see him unable to really do much to back Ruiz up or hurt him.

I haven't watched all of AJ's fights in total - but he was able to get the job done against Povetkin, Wlad, Takam, White, and Breazeale and KO them. Got by Parker with a UD. Not exactly a HOF resume, especially considering Povetkin and Wlad were past prime and the others not that great.

But I just felt Ruiz would be in the same category as the Whites, Breazeales, Takams, Povetkins and Parkers.

I've never really seen footage of AJ looking bad in a fight before - and he looked awful to me pretty much the entire fight. I always thought AJ could really box - why couldn't he back up this dude lol?

Really not trolling - just trying to wrap my head around what the hell happened last night.

He lost because this was the first guy who could take his shots and return shots. How many guys has he fought who threw combos? None. Joshua isn’t a guy who will fight on the inside. Wider can’t fight on the inside but he will go inside to see what you have. And Joshuas lack of a jab hurt him also. His jab was effective but he didn’t throw it enough and he seemed to not want to get tired.

[SouthPawHitman]

If Ruiz had a full camp instead of taking the fight on short notice I think AJ would’ve looked sharper

[Raggamuffin]

This, that punch in round 3 scrambled his brains it's a punch that's hard to recover from, messed his equilibrium for the whole fight.

Plus he needs a consistent sharp jab that he steps in with, too much pawing.

Spot on. I gave out too much green k. Very good post.

[Raggamuffin]

If Ruiz had a full camp instead of taking the fight on short notice I think AJ would’ve looked sharper

Wait what? Lol

[New England]

it's human nature to overlook ruiz when you've got fights on the horizon with an extra dollar sign on them.

ruiz is also a solid fighter. he has power, a good chin, and fast hands. those things make a HW dangerous. he was able to land on joshua where others were not. he has an amateur background and solid boxing skills and they served him well. went to the body, weathered a storm, and took him out in the middle rounds when he had softened him up.


joshua's going to have to box intelligently and establish his jab, or the rematch may go the same way.

[Raggamuffin]

it's human nature to overlook ruiz when you've got fights on the horizon with an extra dollar sign on them.

ruiz is also a solid fighter. he has power, a good chin, and fast hands. those things make a HW dangerous. he was able to land on joshua where others were not. he has an amateur background and solid boxing skills and they served him well. went to the body, weathered a storm, and took him out in the middle rounds when he had softened him up.


joshua's going to have to box intelligently and establish his jab, or the rematch may go the same way.

Good post. Agreed!