Joshua's mistake: not moving off the line

**DuckAdonis** · 06-04-2019, 12:08 PM

I feel like I made this thread for nothing lol

**Mushroom** · 06-04-2019, 01:40 PM

Originally posted by DuckAdonis

I feel like I made this thread for nothing lol

You made some very good points. Joshua has always seemed vulnerable to the body. One of his biggest flaws is how much he slows down and loses his shape whenever he is hurt basically turning him into a sitting duck

**john l** · 06-04-2019, 01:47 PM

Originally posted by DuckAdonis

Ok. So I have watched the fight again. And it seems even clearer to me now. Joshua started off pretty well despite contrary believe. Ruiz and Joshua both started out with an active guard feinting eachother.
Ruiz was looking to fight off of Joshua's jab and time him coming in. Joshua was looking to control Ruiz by feinting and probing with the lead hand. But Ruiz had an amazing answer for that. Saw this on YouTube. When Joshua tried to control him with the lead hand, Ruiz would punch him with a left hook on his bicep. That bothered Joshua alot and made Joshua hesitant to control Ruiz more.

Joshua kept stepping a bit with his jab which allowed Ruiz to slip most of them and come back with his own shots. It's not as simple as just 'stick the jab out and prevent Ruiz from coming in'. Ruiz was feinting very well and dipping to his right and left while making weight transitions which prevented Joshua to time where his head was going to be and allowed Ruiz to be in position to fire back when Joshua was punching with him.
Joshua would see this as well and feinted the jab while turning it over into a hook which he caught Ruiz with a couple of times. That was his answer. Ruiz realised this as well and tried to put down Joshua's lead hand with his right hand while firing a left jab to the body.

Now where did it really go wrong? In round 3, Joshua fired the jab to the body and followed it up with a right hand that just missed. Just like he tried with Povetkin. He then moved into the inside on Ruiz and hit Ruiz with a great combination that put him down. But Joshua didn't realize that Ruiz had recovered and went in for the kill. He stayed on the line with Ruiz and Ruiz slipped his shots and came back with counters. The left hook knocked off his equilibrium and he was on shaky legs for the rest of the round.

Rounds 4 and 5 Joshua was recovering a bit going back to controlling Ruiz with the lead hand. Firing some left hooks in between. Nothing disastrous.
Then in round six Ruiz made a serious adjustment that would make Joshua stop using his lead hand. Ruiz feinted Joshua up top which allowed the body to be hit and he hit Joshua with a straight right hand to the body which hurt Joshua bad. After that he spent the whole round covering his body so he wouldn't get hit with one of those again.
That was the strange sequence where he was just walking around with his hands down. Ruiz saw this as well and made Joshua hesitant to throw. When Joshua did throw his jab again, he was again caught with a straight right to the body furthering the damage done.

Then In round 7 Joshua tried what seemed like a great tactic at first.
Joshua and Ruiz were both feinting eachother.. when Joshua suddenly made a move and feinted throwing a straight right off the jab, but instead of committing he fooled Ruiz and caught Ruiz with a big left hook.
But again Ruiz punched with him as AJ stayed on the line and he got caught again. Joshua thought he had Ruiz hurt and punched with him again. Ruiz slipped Joshua's next left hook and came with a right hand over the top. Basically ending the fight.

That was what went wrong for Joshua imo. Not moving off the line and punching with Ruiz who is faster than him. But Ruiz is still a very difficult fight even if Joshua did move off the line. Let's see the rematch! I still believe Joshua is a very good fighter.

Been talking about how AJ fights on the line for a while now along with not moving his head is the reason I always thought Wilder would catch him with ST8 right.His chin is also not real good, but the biggest problem I see now is his confidence and fighters mentality.He panicked after being hurt in 3rd and if you watch he was gassed right then a lot like Wlad vs Brewster.That will be tougher to correct then anything else.Not impossible, but unlikely imo.

**JakeTheBoxer** · 06-04-2019, 01:51 PM

He thought Ruiz was done in the 3. round and tried desperately to knock him out. That was a begining of a nightmare.

if Joshua had some patience than, and kept a distance, fight could be completely different.

**Mister Wolf** · 06-04-2019, 01:53 PM

You never square up in front of an opponent or throw wildly with an opponent. He assumed he had Ruiz hurt and attacked recklessly. He never fully recovered from that punch behind the ear. Doubt he will make the same mistake in the rematch. Expect a boring 12 round UD with Ruiz's 15 minutes of fame ending like Rahman's ended and like most recently Eleider Alvarez's ended

Joshua's mistake: not moving off the line