The ref babysat Joshua

[elfag]

Go back in time to renegotiate the contract with a different ref and different ring size. Ruiz's only shot at winning against AJ's style was if he could stay in once he got in, and sometimes the breaks were coming before there was even a proper tie-up. I assume Ruiz's idea - if he had any ideas - was that he only needed to get inside long enough to rattle Joshua's head a few times, either force a knockdown to make Joshua switch to offense or otherwise make him eat some shots that would shake his gameplan. Did he lose some opportunities to do that because of premature ref intervention? Yeah, a couple times. Would he have done anything on those few occasions if he hadn't been pushed out early? Impossible to know.

Ruiz's time is up. He knows this, thats why he hyped the crowd up for a rematch but I doubt that chit happens, nobody wants to see that.

Ruiz is a slow plodding fighter with fast hands but t rex arms. The blue print to beat him is there. Parker boxed him from the outside easy.

[Larry the boss]

He could have trained better, used a jab and worked his way in..Guy was to slow and just walking around the ring not setting anything up...Joshua did what he was supposed to do..Ruiz nor his corner made any adjustments

[LetOutTheCage]

The ref was weak, should have deducted a point against Ruiz for the rabbit-punches . He threw a number of illegal shots. OP is very salty

[llll]

Time him coming in so he can't.

There wasn't much clinching though so your thread is weak.

AJ didnt clinch that much because he stayed on the outside but whenever he would get inside he would clinch. Excessive clinching is also against the rules. Ruiz was just doing what he could to land.

It seems like he didn't clinch much because he was using his legs a lot especially in the beginning while he was still fresh.

For the first few rounds I was like "ok ruiz is going to close the distance, and joshua is going to burn up all his energy running around."

Ruiz was getting closer and closer, and at some point he did start closing the distance joshua was running out of space, and at that point was where he started holding and the ref would break them up within 5 seconds of joshua grabbing and holding ruiz because he had nowhere left to go.

Right at the point where I was saying "ok now ruiz has his chance" is when the ref started stepping into the fight.

[theaside]

one of the worst refs I have seen in a while, anyone whos too blind to see that the ref was clearly going for AJ. There was a moment in the fight when Andy hit him hard in the clinch and the ref couldn't wait to step in and break them up lmao it was so obvious.

Every single time andy would get inside, the ref would jump in and break them up.. awful ref

[Toffee]

It seems like he didn't clinch much because he was using his legs a lot especially in the beginning while he was still fresh.

For the first few rounds I was like "ok ruiz is going to close the distance, and joshua is going to burn up all his energy running around."

Ruiz was getting closer and closer, and at some point he did start closing the distance joshua was running out of space, and at that point was where he started holding and the ref would break them up within 5 seconds of joshua grabbing and holding ruiz because he had nowhere left to go.

Right at the point where I was saying "ok now ruiz has his chance" is when the ref started stepping into the fight.

But, again, this is boxing. There aren't any surprises in the above.

Joshua has earned his A side status over years. So his team will get leverage over who the referee is, where the fight is, when the fight is. Ruiz needs to earn that kind of status - and he can't even be fked to lay off drinking melted butter for breakfast.

If Ruiz' plan was to hope the ref allowed them to fight inside then he was massively mistaken and unbelievably naive.

Did you think that there was going to be loads of infighting where Ruiz' size would become an advantage? No, neither did I.

Team Joshua had a plan. Then they needed to train like fk to be able to implement that plan. They did.

Team Ruiz needed a plan. And then they needed to train like fk to be able to implement that plan. They didn't.

[Zaryu]

How dare this ref not let Andy Ruiz rabbit punch AJ? Un-fooking-believable!