Comments Thread For: Bellew: Joshua Knows His Career is at Stake in Ruiz Rematch

[rckdees]

Another clown who refuses to come to grips with the fact that his boxing god was a fraud

[SchoolTheseCats]

All this talk of Ruiz being a better fundamental boxer than AJ is horse sh/t, AJ has continually displayed elite boxing ability, I just think he didn't respect his opponent after hurting him, and the punch he got caught with gave him a concussion.

Ruiz could get crushed in the rematch if AJ is right

To say aj is fundamentally better boxer than Ruiz is just ******.... He a stiff robot, lack of head movement, lack of stamina, never learned how to fight tall.... I can list about 20 other things but you get where I was going

[rudy]

Joshua went far enough in his career, he is a overachiever. No regrets for the kid.

Well said rematch and retire into the 🌅

[markther]

Thanks for stating the obvious Nostradamus (Bellew). But I kinda of disagree to a certain degree. I am NOT a Joshua fan but I think if the fight is very competitive and Joshua loses by a split decision, he may still be able to recover. Because if he goes on to string together some impressive wins, people may look back and just say that was a bad style and match up for him against Ruiz. I do however agree if Joshua gets stopped again, it won’t look good moving forward.

But Joshua is only 29. Wladimir who was 41 when he fought Joshua, looked competitive as a fighter (2) years prior in 2015 at 39 when he beat Jennings and went the distance and lost to Fury. So Joshua has another (6) good years to rebuild his career if he continues boxing even after a “decision” loss to Ruiz, including possibly replacing key team members. I think George Foreman and Roy Jones were both right. George said don’t take any chances by fighting Ruiz this soon, get some time in the ring against some lessor fighters under your belt first. Roy said do a tuneup first and focus on beating that guy just by boxing. Don’t try for the knock out, just box. Then go into the Ruiz fight later on with some improvements and things you executed well in your last fight. And I think he should seek paid counseling sessions from guys like Lennox or Holyfield or Roy or even Floyd who is backing him in the rematch. That may help him with certain intrinsic, fundamental and technical things to look for and do inside the ring. Ruiz is coming into the rematch motivated with a lot of confidence, skills, and he still sounds very hungry. Very Tough rematch but I don’t believe a career ending for Joshua.

[apollocreed]

Thanks for stating the obvious Nostradamus (Bellew). But I kinda of disagree to a certain degree. I am NOT a Joshua fan but I think if the fight is very competitive and Joshua loses by a split decision, he may still be able to recover. Because if he goes on to string together some impressive wins, people may look back and just say that was a bad style and match up for him against Ruiz. I do however agree if Joshua gets stopped again, it won’t look good moving forward.

But Joshua is only 29. Wladimir who was 41 when he fought Joshua, looked competitive as a fighter (2) years prior in 2015 at 39 when he beat Jennings and went the distance and lost to Fury. So Joshua has another (6) good years to rebuild his career if he continues boxing even after a “decision” loss to Ruiz, including possibly replacing key team members. I think George Foreman and Roy Jones were both right. George said don’t take any chances by fighting Ruiz this soon, get some time in the ring against some lessor fighters under your belt first. Roy said do a tuneup first and focus on beating that guy just by boxing. Don’t try for the knock out, just box. Then go into the Ruiz fight later on with some improvements and things you executed well in your last fight. And I think he should seek paid counseling sessions from guys like Lennox or Holyfield or Roy or even Floyd who is backing him in the rematch. That may help him with certain intrinsic, fundamental and technical things to look for and do inside the ring. Ruiz is coming into the rematch motivated with a lot of confidence, skills, and he still sounds very hungry. Very Tough rematch but I don’t believe a career ending for Joshua.

You’re right looking at it from an age point of view. Are you British though? Because if you are, you must know the massive level of hype that Hearn and Sky have generated around Joshua. If he loses again, it just looks embarrassing, his earning power will go down, and a lot of casual fans, which make up a large part of his fan base, will lose interest.
They’ve made a rod for their own back by hyping him up so much to build the brand of a superstar. They can’t afford embarrassing losses.
If there wasn’t so much hype behind him in the UK, a loss wouldn’t be so damaging.
Hearn can’t have it both ways though. He wanted to promote a superstar - so losses like the one to Ruiz are not part of the script.

[markther]

You’re right looking at it from an age point of view. Are you British though? Because if you are, you must know the massive level of hype that Hearn and Sky have generated around Joshua. If he loses again, it just looks embarrassing, his earning power will go down, and a lot of casual fans, which make up a large part of his fan base, will lose interest.
They’ve made a rod for their own back by hyping him up so much to build the brand of a superstar. They can’t afford embarrassing losses.
If there wasn’t so much hype behind him in the UK, a loss wouldn’t be so damaging.
Hearn can’t have it both ways though. He wanted to promote a superstar - so losses like the one to Ruiz are not part of the script.

Never been to the UK and not a Joshua fan as I stated in my post.

[apollocreed]

Never been to the UK and not a Joshua fan as I stated in my post.

Aah well that explains it - I just skim read your post btw, it was pretty long!
In the UK, since the Klitschko win, Joshua has been ****ing everywhere in terms of sports TV and also crossover shows. He's been a media darling, casual fans who don't know much about boxing, especially young families etc, love him, because of his squeaky clean Mr. Perfect image (which in my personal opinion is contrived and boring).
If you've never been to Britain, you may not realize how patriotic the country is as a whole - any successful sports stars are almost universally supported and adored. Joshua has been treated like a king since Klitschko.
You may not also realize the scale difference in Britain to the US, if you're American. In the UK, the country's media is nationwide - we don't have different TV and radio in different areas. The whole country is the size of around two states - so if you're a star in the UK, you're on TV throughout the country. Everyone watches the same channels.
You need to understand the coverage Joshua has had here - hob nobbing with A listers (again most of whom don't understand boxing), big sponsorship deals with the likes of Beats headphones, Under Armor etc.
There was a Sky programme which showed Dr. Dre ****ing skyping him to pass on his admiration.
Hearn really wanted to promote a British global superstar.
So if he loses twice to Ruiz, he loses A LOT of his marketability in the UK. The PPV numbers, stadium fights, media fawning will drop off rapidly.

[markther]

Aah well that explains it - I just skim read your post btw, it was pretty long!
In the UK, since the Klitschko win, Joshua has been ****ing everywhere in terms of sports TV and also crossover shows. He's been a media darling, casual fans who don't know much about boxing, especially young families etc, love him, because of his squeaky clean Mr. Perfect image (which in my personal opinion is contrived and boring).
If you've never been to Britain, you may not realize how patriotic the country is as a whole - any successful sports stars are almost universally supported and adored. Joshua has been treated like a king since Klitschko.
You may not also realize the scale difference in Britain to the US, if you're American. In the UK, the country's media is nationwide - we don't have different TV and radio in different areas. The whole country is the size of around two states - so if you're a star in the UK, you're on TV throughout the country. Everyone watches the same channels.
You need to understand the coverage Joshua has had here - hob nobbing with A listers (again most of whom don't understand boxing), big sponsorship deals with the likes of Beats headphones, Under Armor etc.
There was a Sky programme which showed Dr. Dre ****ing skyping him to pass on his admiration.
Hearn really wanted to promote a British global superstar.
So if he loses twice to Ruiz, he loses A LOT of his marketability in the UK. The PPV numbers, stadium fights, media fawning will drop off rapidly.

I normally don’t read any of your posts either because they are long like this response one. But skimming through your post, I already know everything you stated above despite not being from the UK. Also, you don’t have to be a boxing fan to understand economical or marketing or investment or monetary differences in different countries or regions. My background is in finance, marketing, investments, and in business. But I am a boxing fan also who has watched many fights, attended many fights, and has been around fighters as a business man for over 30 plus years. And like most fans who have been around and watched boxing for years like me, everything you stated is common sense, it’s nothing enlightening to the experienced boxing fan. We get all of that your saying. Your just wasting time stating the obvious.

My overall original point that I will still stand behind, NOT being a Joshua fan, is that it is “possible” that he can recover being only 29 years old even with a “CLOSE” rematch decision lost to Ruiz like I stated in my first post. Although I don’t see him beating Wilder or Fury, he could beat one or both of them because anything can happen inside a boxing ring. History as shown that and the Ruiz fight showed that. In boxing, there are always outcomes that we can’t see happening before a fight. So we don’t know until those fights are made and we see the results afterwards. You, myself, and other boxing fans aren’t getting inside the ring with those HW’s so we are just stating opinions and making predictions based on what we “think” we know based on our individual levels of experience.

However, I am interested just like a lot of fans are on seeing how Joshua’s career plays out and how he performs in the rematch. And to see if he can recover from that loss like Lennox did against McCall and Rahman and many fighters have done over the years after they suffered knockout losses. And I’m curious if Joshua losses the rematch, if he can make his way to the top of the division again. It’s all good for boxing. As a true boxing fan, I want to see at least 4-5 HW’s in a competitive mix for the top spot so a rematch win by Joshua would make the division more interesting even though I’ve called Joshua the “British Dummy” numerous times on posts here in the past.

[apollocreed]

I normally don’t read any of your posts either because they are long like this response one. But skimming through your post, I already know everything you stated above despite not being from the UK. Also, you don’t have to be a boxing fan to understand economical or marketing or investment or monetary differences in different countries or regions. My background is in finance, marketing, investments, and in business. But I am a boxing fan also who has watched many fights, attended many fights, and has been around fighters as a business man for over 30 plus years. And like most fans who have been around and watched boxing for years like me, everything you stated is common sense, it’s nothing enlightening to the experienced boxing fan. We get all of that your saying. Your just wasting time stating the obvious.

My overall original point that I will still stand behind, NOT being a Joshua fan, is that it is “possible” that he can recover being only 29 years old even with a “CLOSE” rematch decision lost to Ruiz like I stated in my first post. Although I don’t see him beating Wilder or Fury, he could beat one or both of them because anything can happen inside a boxing ring. History as shown that and the Ruiz fight showed that. In boxing, there are always outcomes that we can’t see happening before a fight. So we don’t know until those fights are made and we see the results afterwards. You, myself, and other boxing fans aren’t getting inside the ring with those HW’s so we are just stating opinions and making predictions based on what we “think” we know based on our individual levels of experience.

However, I am interested just like a lot of fans are on seeing how Joshua’s career plays out and how he performs in the rematch. And to see if he can recover from that loss like Lennox did against McCall and Rahman and many fighters have done over the years after they suffered knockout losses. And I’m curious if Joshua losses the rematch, if he can make his way to the top of the division again. It’s all good for boxing. As a true boxing fan, I want to see at least 4-5 HW’s in a competitive mix for the top spot so a rematch win by Joshua would make the division more interesting even though I’ve called Joshua the “British Dummy” numerous times on posts here in the past.

Whatever, I was just explaining why Joshua's marketability will plummet if he loses again. In Britain, that's what his whole career is based on. He's a brand, built by Hearn, primarily to make money and fill stadiums.

[P4Pdunny]

I don’t think so. He can still come back but he will really have to rebuild if he loses again.