Comments Thread For: Joshua: I Didn't Underestimate Ruiz; Nothing Was Wrong With Me

[Boxfan83]

Parker’s a top five heavyweight???

Who else would you throw in as 5? Parker imo gets it just for being a former champ and having Andy on his resume.

[Mushroom]

Anthony Joshua is a just a very flawed fighter. He pushes his punches out without snap and they’re telegraphed which means he struggles landing consistently, especially with smaller fighters that can move a bit. If you watch the Povetkin fight until the KO he was having a real hard time landing apart from body shot jabs thrown from the hip.

He doesn’t recover particularly well. When he’s gets hurt he seems to loose all his energy and becomes very static and this can go on for rounds (Whyte, Wlad, Ruiz). He doesn’t have the boxing skills nor the speed/stamina to use his reach to box from the outside to win rounds and get himself out of trouble.

I don’t think there’s much that can be done with him which is a shame because he’s a decent guy. He a skinny dude wearing a heavy suit of muscle which leaves him very limited as he’s always going to he unable to box the way he needs to stay at the top.

[Letmaku]

Fast Shorty can win just like lightweight Pacman fighting at weterweight!

[CauliflowerEars]

VERY good post

Funnily enough I think Wilder did have an impact on this fight but not in the obvious way.
Wilder just blasted out Br**. We can all agree on that.
So AJ was under pressure to put on an impressive performance. I think even the most fervent AJ haters can agree on that.

We know this because it was reported that AJ "hoped it took Wilder at least 7 rounds to dispose of Breazeale". Other things, apparently the wrong things, were renting space in AJ's head. Some say he hasn't shown the hunger it takes to be a champion, since the Klitchsko fight. Maybe this helps get it back or maybe he is done.

So when he floored Ruiz in the third he saw an opportunity to make a statement and rushed in to finish. Bad judgement. He didn't take a good enough look at Ruiz, which he normally does before committing and he got caught.

Also reported that his promoters had a plan to "take over America" or at least to aggressively expand his brand into the USA. The whole "American Soil" experience may have been in his head. In some ways perhaps, he wanted his performance to out-shine Wilders, instead of a possibly less entertaining fight.

No disrespect to Ruiz who has fast hard hands and got caught by some monster shots and walked through them. The guy is desert tough. He got little respect before the fight but has made his point. Happy for him.

They say styles make fights. Ruiz is shorter, has fast hands, is hungry, and shows a warrior spirit. His upset win is a success story anyone can get behind. Brings some class and humility to the HW division too. IMO, this is the real story.

And respect to AJ for his sportsmanship. It would be nice if some of the loud mouthed vulgarians on there showed the same class.

If you love sportsmanship, how can you not appreciate Joshua's reaction to the loss and general behavior before and after the fight. I know the trendy and "sexy" thing to do seems to be to come up with as much clever, foul, profane, and carnal banter as possible. Eventually we will need to look ourselves in the mirror. I realize a number of fans make it difficult to take the high road, but one day I think we will discover that the low road is not all it's cracked up to be.

Peace.

[eco1]

Just admit it Joshua, as soon as you heard: "The Land of The Free & The Home of The Brave" you **** your Trowzers.

These colonials are really enjoying their free time, lol. JK.
I have the dishonor of living in redneckland for now.

So now we have to find who is number 4 on the division, so far we have:

1-Fury
2-Ruiz, lol
3-Joshua

who's 4? Whyte, King Kong, ... anyone else?

[PBR Streetgang]

1 thing you have to remember, this is boxing at the highest level and you will get hit! It really matters more on how you take it and how you react. AJ's been down many times and has come back to win by KO/TKO. Problem this time he just ran into someone tougher. If anything Andy showed a "special" level of heart and you cant teach that. AJ leveled Ruiz and Ruiz got in his chest and threw down like a bad ass. There wasn't a HW in the game until Sunday morning that would've want to exchange lefts with AJ...


Honestly I think Usyk and Fury give Ruiz the hardest time because Fury can move and Usyk can match speed. Wilder IMO is another flawed mystery like AJ was.

I'm with you on this. I don't think Ruiz is being given enough credit. He went into that fight not content to just be an opponent. He was dropped hard and got back up with clear eyes and fired back when AJ tried to finish him off.

He threw fast counters and threw in combinations that you rarely see in HW division. He has decent power but the real danger is in the speed and the fact that it's multiple punches thrown.

I also agree that Fury and Usyk would be difficult matchups stylistically for Ruiz.

[JakeTheBoxer]

Great fighters don’t lose to Joseph Parker.

Parker is top 5-6 him self. he is better than Ortiz with bigger resume.

[_Rexy_]

Ruiz is a beast!

In the 7th Joshua actually caught him with a monsterous hook and he immediately responded with like a 5 punch combination that put AJ down.

If AJ was a prospect with no belts then this rematch wouldn’t be immediate but Hearn, matchroom and AJ can’t afford to let the belts slip away so they have to go for it.

But the problems AJ needs to fix don’t usually get corrected in 6 or so months.

Yeah they hit each other at the exact same time, and it seemed like Joshua hit Andy harder but it was Josh who got hurt from it. Andy is a beast.

[PBR Streetgang]

Regarding the posters who state that AJ is flawed, I agree, but I would also say that every top tier HW today is flawed. Fury has little to no power, Wilder has been outboxed for long stretches, Ortiz has skills and some pop but lumbers and labors in the ring against pedestrian competition. Parker fights timid and Whyte can look sloppy.

The flaws make for compelling fights and interesting matchups but none of these guys are complete fighters.

[Level37scythe]

Parker is top 5-6 him self. he is better than Ortiz with bigger resume.

Wtf are you smoking, you aj groupie?

Before your god was exposed like the weak hearted b i t ch he is, the top Heavyweight was Fury with Wilder and Joshua competing for 2 and 3 while Ortiz was the solid #4. Now the new top 4 are Fury, Wilder, Ruiz, and Ortiz. All of which would embarrass your weak hearted god.