Ruiz? Seriously?

[KiwiRider]

Why do so many Spanish names end in Z?

I makes it easier to write them with a sword.

[KiwiRider]

Traded one fat guy for another. Not a lot of difference really. One fat guy had power, and size. This one is just fat.

Sorry mate, can't agree with that at all.
Ruiz is a better puncher, has a better punch variety, moves better, and will be harder for AJ to catch clean.
Miller just isn't as good. He slaps his punchs, he uses his face as defence- and I dont care how good his untested chin is, it would not stand up to the power of AJ for very long at all.

[oogiebe]

I makes it easier to write them with a sword.

Brilliant!

[gilgamesh]

Sorry mate, can't agree with that at all.
Ruiz is a better puncher, has a better punch variety, moves better, and will be harder for AJ to catch clean.
Miller just isn't as good. He slaps his punchs, he uses his face as defence- and I dont care how good his untested chin is, it would not stand up to the power of AJ for very long at all.

He could potentially actually hurt AJ though. Slim chance, but a chance nonetheless. Ruiz won't be able to hurt AJ or trouble him much at all save for maybe being a little hard to hit clean for a while. I doubt he wins a round unless AJ does him a favor, and just takes the round off.

[greg]

..wonder if AJ will come out all guns blazing or chooses to take him out in later rounds...

[oogiebe]

..wonder if AJ will come out all guns blazing or chooses to take him out in later rounds...

He won't have to. Ruiz has this habit (probably due to his short reach) of raising his chin when he comes in with the jab or he's reaching with his punches. AJ only has to time a right hand counter and lights out.

[gilgamesh]

It'll take a while though. Joshua will be very patient because he'll see no threat in Ruiz. So he'll take his time, and work on some things I figure.

[Paci]

Still thou, gonna give Ruiz a shoot at this. I give him respect for taking the fight and... Well, he does have a solid skillset and would he have a chance to win this. The most logical outcome is by decision but handling Jousha for 12 rounds gonna be hell. That dude has all the tools to get the job done quick if he gets a hold on Ruiz early.

The landscape would change but would just make the division deeper not weaker. A loss would just make in mine mind Jousha hungry and just go after some of the other 2 top guys.

Still wondering how the hell did the heavyweight go from at least 5 top solid contenders outside the champ or champions to about.... 30 or more? And Im looking at all this young guys coming up... Yoka and Joyce among others are something special.

[oogiebe]

It'll take a while though. Joshua will be very patient because he'll see no threat in Ruiz. So he'll take his time, and work on some things I figure.

Yup, he's a smart fighter.

[oogiebe]

Still thou, gonna give Ruiz a shoot at this. I give him respect for taking the fight and... Well, he does have a solid skillset and would he have a chance to win this. The most logical outcome is by decision but handling Jousha for 12 rounds gonna be hell. That dude has all the tools to get the job done quick if he gets a hold on Ruiz early.

The landscape would change but would just make the division deeper not weaker. A loss would just make in mine mind Jousha hungry and just go after some of the other 2 top guys.

Still wondering how the hell did the heavyweight go from at least 5 top solid contenders outside the champ or champions to about.... 30 or more? And Im looking at all this young guys coming up... Yoka and Joyce among others are something special.

It won't go the distance because Ruiz won't be in there just to survive. He'll take a pounding and get beaten down. AJ is just way too much for him.

[Paci]

It won't go the distance because Ruiz won't be in there just to survive. He'll take a pounding and get beaten down. AJ is just way too much for him.

Lets see what happens. It is boxing. But yeah the odds ain't nice to Ruiz.

[Thomastearns]

Sorry mate, can't agree with that at all.
Ruiz is a better puncher, has a better punch variety, moves better, and will be harder for AJ to catch clean.
Miller just isn't as good. He slaps his punchs, he uses his face as defence- and I dont care how good his untested chin is, it would not stand up to the power of AJ for very long at all.

Out of the two, Ruiz is the more dangerous for AJ. He's lively and can bang a bit too.

I don't think Anthony Joshua really wants to find out just how hard.

[Ilya Muromets]

I makes it easier to write them with a sword.

That's not Zorro. This is Zorro:

[ironbeard]

That's not Zorro. This is Zorro:

“That’s” way more dangerous than Zorro.

[Ilya Muromets]

“That’s” way more dangerous than Zorro.

Yes! That señorita looks very dangerous indeed!

[Onekrazyrican]

Ruiz is actually very decent despite his looks. Hes just in too much of a physical disadvantage against the current top guys meaning AJ, Wilder and Fury. Theres no shame in the Parker loss it could have gone either way imo. Other than the top 3 I could see him beating anyone else in the top 10 including Ortiz. Sadly Joshua will get no credit as in the eyes of the world he will just beat up the fat kid from the "Up" movie...

[BROZO]

Ruiz has good skills, fast hands and would make a top 3 light heavy if he lost all that fat. He is only a heavyweight by laziness. Imho

[candyslim]

Ruiz is actually very decent despite his looks. Hes just in too much of a physical disadvantage against the current top guys meaning AJ, Wilder and Fury. Theres no shame in the Parker loss it could have gone either way imo. Other than the top 3 I could see him beating anyone else in the top 10 including Ortiz. Sadly Joshua will get no credit as in the eyes of the world he will just beat up the fat kid from the "Up" movie...

Don't disrespect Russell. That was Tyson Fury who pointed out the resemblance, unless he got it fom someone else. Pretty funny whoever it was.

Almost as funny was Eddie's gushing endorsement of Andy. I know Ruiz is way better than he looks, and a promoter's function is to promote, but if Eddie really wanted to minimize the sneering and the caustic comments, he'd have gone back to Ortiz and said "Apology accepted, now let's get it done". Ruiz isn't a bad opponent in the circumstances but he isn't the one we wanted to see.

As for crediting him for taking the fight, I'd let AJ punch my lights out for US$ 3m. Who knows, I might even have some left over once I'd paid the medical bills

[ClivePatrickLyons]

Seriously AJ should have threated to make his next fight against Eddie for matching him on debut in the states with a fighter's that looks like he lives and trains at KFC or Macca's its the most odd fight to make for someone to sell their fighter to for the very first time what a joke no matter what the outcome its A NO WIN SITUATION FOR TEAM AJ BAD MATCH MAKING.

[jamamb]

Seriously AJ should have threated to make his next fight against Eddie for matching him on debut in the states with a fighter's that looks like he lives and trains at KFC or Macca's its the most odd fight to make for someone to sell their fighter to for the very first time what a joke no matter what the outcome its A NO WIN SITUATION FOR TEAM AJ BAD MATCH MAKING.

ya , too bad ortizs side rejected a great offer and miller got caught

[candyslim]

I think Clive, he deserves a little bit of slack. There are very few fighters around (in 2019, hopefully that'll change) who would be considered as having a reasonable chance of beating Joshua, and most of them don't want to fight him or aren't being allowed to fight him for "political" reasons.

The choice was basically Luis Ortiz or someone who was going to provoke derision among a significant proportion of fans. I fully accept that Hearn had every right to feel angry and disrespected by team Ortiz, but given the time delay between team Ortiz's forced admission, and the announcement of the Ruiz fight, I think there must surely have been time to mend fences and get Ortiz.

I don't want to be too hard on Hearn because it's Miller's f*ck-up, compounded by team Ortiz, but I do think Eddie let his sore feelings get in the way of business with Ortiz, and that's unprofessional.

[jamamb]

clive said in another thread he thinks its all a lie from hearn that ortizs side rejected a huge offer, he obviously didnt hear the interviews where ortizs manager and trainer admit it

[candyslim]

I know that was his initial thinking but either he knows better now or ... well let's just leave it that

[Thomastearns]

clive said in another thread he thinks its all a lie from hearn that ortizs side rejected a huge offer, he obviously didnt hear the interviews where ortizs manager and trainer admit it

Yes, another failed test for Ortiz would have finished him then and there like Briggs.

Once Ortiz has got off his bike he should be good for one more decent payday.

Defying age without drugs in any sport is hard enough - but boxing?? Forget it.

If the lack of stamina doesn't get you, then the cumulation of injuries that won't fully heal will - as anyone over 40 will know.

Lack of stamina is absolutely deadly in this game.

[candyslim]

That would be a logical explanation for Ortiz passing up, what was to him, a life changing sum of money. I don't believe for a second that Ortiz is scared of Joshua (nor would he be if he knew defeat were inevitable) but having seen what happened to Miller, what's the point of accepting 7 million or 70 million if you won't be getting paid?

I've heard supposedly knowledgeable boxing people dismissing as nonsense the suggestion that drugs were the reason behind Ortiz not taking the fight, on account of him being signed up to VADA and thus subject to random testing (what even when not signed up to fight someone?) but I'm not convinced. It did seem to me that all this about how Ortiz's promoter rejected the offer without Luis even knowing about it, and the retraction still failing to bring about the fight, came across as a little contrived.

I don't know what to think but I guess it doesn't much matter what the truth was now.