Everyone wrote off Ruiz as a fat wannabe but he had a better record than AJ and until last night hadn't ever been put down. He's not exactly a traditional heavyweight but he was clearly not a mug.
It could have been him being ill, having the flu absolutely knocks it out of you and for professional sportspeople it is essentially a month missed once you factor in making up missed training time. He could be preoccupied with something to do with his family or business. To me I think he has possibly carried an injury into the fight but don't read too much into what he said to Rob McCracken in the breaks. He took a genuine equaliser to the side of the higher part of his Swede. From a heavyweight! Factor in the exhaustion and anyone would be saying and doing daft stuff.
It's also hard to tell with some people like Joshua whose interests the people around them have. His dad might have been fuming at Hearn because the golden goose has been shot. Or more likely he was fuming at Hearn for foong ahead with the bout knowing Joshua wasn't fit to fight and raging that his son had been put in that position. Joshua at least in public carries himself well and was incredibly classy in defeat afterwards and I'm definitely cynical at best as far as Joshua is concerned mainly down to how Hearn has manoeuvred him and attracted legions of part time pricks to these shows but I don't wish him any ill will, that is reserved for Hearn.
I hope he comes again, in fighting terms he still classes as a novice even if he has been a pro for 6 years. A lot of fighters have not been moved at anything like the pace Joshua has including Fury and Wilder and he has gotten a fair bit of good fortune in Whyte punching himself out and Klitschko being as cautious as he was in their fight after he had Joshua wobbling like a buoy in a hurricane.
The only thing I've seen that makes me raise my eyebrows is how Glenn McCrory has reacted, he isn't know for explosive rants and he has been hugely scathing of Hearn and he is a very well connected man in boxing
Couple of bits of chuff 3rd hand from some friends of friends , i heard Joshua doesn't think he's got too many fights left in him and a few of the gym people haven't been paid in the last 3 months no idea who or what that encompasses , may all be guff but what I heard
What nobody on here has mentioned, is the distance between fights for both fighters.
Luiz may have taken this fight at 6 weeks notice, but he had literally just had his last fight, so effectively had a 12 week training camp for the Joshua fight - with a decent fight in between.
Although it obviously doesn't look like it, he was probably in the best physical and mental shape of his career.
Joshua on the other hand, hasn't fought since Povetkin last September - and it showed up big time in the ring.
I don't think that Joshua feared Ruiz or rated him, and was therefore pscychlogically unable to lift himself, when it got down and dirty in the trenches.
I am not having it that he is a coward, as the Klitcko fight was brutal and he took some massive digs there, but was almost certainly more up for that fight mentally.
Whatever has gone on behind the scenes, it is going to be a long way back from here.
@Greenie Junior sent me a link to an AJ interview the day before the fight , in the interview they joke about his swollen eye and lions in the camp a reference to Yarde and the fact he is team buatsi
but looking at AJ the swelling goes across from his eyes to the bridge of his nose ,
more credible evidence imo that in the days he days before the fight AJ had a concussion and the minute he takes a stiff jab or some of the lighter stuff that landed in rds 1 and 2 that his brain went to jelly , I am almost certain AJ was concussed pre rd 3 and was still heavily concussed after the fight with all the smiling and mumbling around in the ring
he shouldn’t have been put in there if that does turn out to be the case
Rob Mc and Eddie could both go from this , if you compare what Jamie Moore did with Tommy coyle you wouldn’t expect a trainer to send a boxer in who has had a severe reaction to something only days before
seemed to me Joshua never recovered from a very good body shot, he was breathing heavy and puffing out his mouth guard
I think he can come back stronger, like when Lewis lost to Rahman, and Lewis never had that good a chin but was still a fantastic heavyweight.
Lewis had one of the best chins in boxing! His problem was concentrating, if you don't remember first hand it's worth looking on YouTube at his fights and see how well he took some enormous shots
This Lewis fought huge punches and Was solid as anything. Nothing like the chinny robot AJ
NLA, obviously you will be more in the know about what happens behind the scenes than myself, but I feel at the moment you are putting 2 and 2 together and making 5.
I feel that many people both overrated Joshua's ability, and underrated Ruiz's. The narrative that this was one of the biggest upset in boxing history is purely media created, and in my opinion very wide of the mark. It's not like Joshua has cruised his way through the heavyweight division without any trouble, and Ruiz has only lost one fight to Parker (which many believed he won).
Was Joshua concussed? Yeah I believe so. However only after he took a big counter shot to the temple going for the knock out. I feel like he never really recovered from this, and although Joshua looks the fitter man I believe Ruiz had much more stamina and energy going into the mid rounds, and he used to this and his ability to take AJ's shots to get on the inside and swarm him with volume.
I'm absolutely convinced AJ was injured in some way in the build up to the fight. hence why his dad was having a real pop at Hearn. My hunch is that he believes the fight should've been postponed.
Take nothing away from Ruiz though. An incredible win
I'm absolutely convinced AJ was injured in some way in the build up to the fight. hence why his dad was having a real pop at Hearn. My hunch is that he believes the fight should've been postponed.
Take nothing away from Ruiz though. An incredible win
As I said previously...they mentioned at the weigh-in his face looking scuffed and his nose cut; if his nose was actually broken, maybe it was breathing difficulties that caused him to look so short of stamina?
NLA, obviously you will be more in the know about what happens behind the scenes than myself, but I feel at the moment you are putting 2 and 2 together and making 5.
I feel that many people both overrated Joshua's ability, and underrated Ruiz's. The narrative that this was one of the biggest upset in boxing history is purely media created, and in my opinion very wide of the mark. It's not like Joshua has cruised his way through the heavyweight division without any trouble, and Ruiz has only lost one fight to Parker (which many believed he won).
Was Joshua concussed? Yeah I believe so. However only after he took a big counter shot to the temple going for the knock out. I feel like he never really recovered from this, and although Joshua looks the fitter man I believe Ruiz had much more stamina and energy going into the mid rounds, and he used to this and his ability to take AJ's shots to get on the inside and swarm him with volume.
Listen to the Dave Allen interview on IFL there were many people saying the same at the venue and the weird stuff he was saying in the corner as early as the second rd , I reckon he said some weird bits at the end of rd 1 , I would put a quite healthy wedge that AJ got sparked last week in camp prob as late as Thursday (which is shocking no sparring should happen that week )
it will all come out someone will blink and break file first when they reckon they are going to be thrown under the bus
Peter knows his shit I have spent a lot of time in his company and he would know from deep within both the Eddie camp and AJ if there was validity in this
I have done my digging and it’s looking likely that AJ was concussed heavily in the days before the fight maybe as late as Thursday
However I am hearing that Eddie wanted to call it off but Team Joshua over ruled
Comments
Odd in general to see boxers speaking on the stool
It's also hard to tell with some people like Joshua whose interests the people around them have. His dad might have been fuming at Hearn because the golden goose has been shot. Or more likely he was fuming at Hearn for foong ahead with the bout knowing Joshua wasn't fit to fight and raging that his son had been put in that position. Joshua at least in public carries himself well and was incredibly classy in defeat afterwards and I'm definitely cynical at best as far as Joshua is concerned mainly down to how Hearn has manoeuvred him and attracted legions of part time pricks to these shows but I don't wish him any ill will, that is reserved for Hearn.
I hope he comes again, in fighting terms he still classes as a novice even if he has been a pro for 6 years. A lot of fighters have not been moved at anything like the pace Joshua has including Fury and Wilder and he has gotten a fair bit of good fortune in Whyte punching himself out and Klitschko being as cautious as he was in their fight after he had Joshua wobbling like a buoy in a hurricane.
The only thing I've seen that makes me raise my eyebrows is how Glenn McCrory has reacted, he isn't know for explosive rants and he has been hugely scathing of Hearn and he is a very well connected man in boxing
and a few of the gym people haven't been paid in the last 3 months no idea who or what that encompasses , may all be guff but what I heard
Luiz may have taken this fight at 6 weeks notice, but he had literally just had his last fight, so effectively had a 12 week training camp for the Joshua fight - with a decent fight in between.
Although it obviously doesn't look like it, he was probably in the best physical and mental shape of his career.
Joshua on the other hand, hasn't fought since Povetkin last September - and it showed up big time in the ring.
I don't think that Joshua feared Ruiz or rated him, and was therefore pscychlogically unable to lift himself, when it got down and dirty in the trenches.
I am not having it that he is a coward, as the Klitcko fight was brutal and he took some massive digs there, but was almost certainly more up for that fight mentally.
Whatever has gone on behind the scenes, it is going to be a long way back from here.
but looking at AJ the swelling goes across from his eyes to the bridge of his nose ,
more credible evidence imo that in the days he days before the fight AJ had a concussion and the minute he takes a stiff jab or some of the lighter stuff that landed in rds 1 and 2 that his brain went to jelly , I am almost certain AJ was concussed pre rd 3 and was still heavily concussed after the fight with all the smiling and mumbling around in the ring
he shouldn’t have been put in there if that does turn out to be the case
Rob Mc and Eddie could both go from this , if you compare what Jamie Moore did with Tommy coyle you wouldn’t expect a trainer to send a boxer in who has had a severe reaction to something only days before
I feel that many people both overrated Joshua's ability, and underrated Ruiz's. The narrative that this was one of the biggest upset in boxing history is purely media created, and in my opinion very wide of the mark. It's not like Joshua has cruised his way through the heavyweight division without any trouble, and Ruiz has only lost one fight to Parker (which many believed he won).
Was Joshua concussed? Yeah I believe so. However only after he took a big counter shot to the temple going for the knock out. I feel like he never really recovered from this, and although Joshua looks the fitter man I believe Ruiz had much more stamina and energy going into the mid rounds, and he used to this and his ability to take AJ's shots to get on the inside and swarm him with volume.
Take nothing away from Ruiz though. An incredible win
Listen to the Dave Allen interview on IFL there were many people saying the same at the venue and the weird stuff he was saying in the corner as early as the second rd , I reckon he said some weird bits at the end of rd 1 , I would put a quite healthy wedge that AJ got sparked last week in camp prob as late as Thursday (which is shocking no sparring should happen that week )
it will all come out someone will blink and break file first when they reckon they are going to be thrown under the bus
my bet is RM and EH will lose AJ
Credit to Ruiz Jnr though
He said he's "so angry with so many people at the moment" and then basically shut up.
I think NLA has this spot on.
Peter knows his shit I have spent a lot of time in his company and he would know from deep within both the Eddie camp and AJ if there was validity in this
Something was not right from the off.