The boxing

I thought Joshua looked a bit ****ed before the fight and his performance was definitely well off the pace.
He needs to really do a number on Ruiz in the rematch or his whole career will come into question.
Now I'm just hoping that Wilder and Fury both lose too, so the division gets thrown up in the air!

 

Yup.

Questionmarks on how he can come back after defeat, his stamina and chin.

I really hope he drops the facade of "stay humble, everyone get home safe, have a nice Christmas" and all that squeaky clean bollox.

I'd have a lot more respect if he spoke his mind.

 

Especially as it all comes across as a complete act and he keeps letting the mask slip.
Still better than Wilder's whole ridiculous bullshit, though. The difference between his reaction and Fury's says a lot.

 

Agreed.

Although I do think there is an element of mind games with what Fury says.

Fury is trying to chip away at that facade - he did call Fury a fat **** once online which showed his true colours!

Hope they fight.

 

I lost interest around the time Ali lost to Larry Holmes. Regained it briefly when Iron Mike Tyson rose to, and just as quickly fell from, glory. It's been mostly **** since then, or maybe I'm just old.

 

I caught the end of the Tyson era and since then its been crap with the interest in middle and lighter weights.

 

Tyson in his early years was the best there’s ever been imo. He ended up as a shadow of the same boxer though.

In terms of explosive power Wilder is on a similar plane, but Wilder can’t box.

In terms of future bouts, assuming Fury gets past the relative no mark he’s fighting this month, Wilder sees off Ortiz, and Joshua rights the abomination of last Saturday, the division needs the belts unifying with one of those 3 rightfully becoming the true undisputed Champ.

 

Wilder won't fight him now 'without a belt' and will try for Ruiz.
Fury on the other hand might because he's seen how to beat him and if he's the best technical boxer people claim he is then he should be able to figure Joshua out.

 

Wilder goes on a post-fight rant about how Joshua was running from him, then continues to dodge the fight!

Fury would outbox Joshua, but he doesn't have the power to stop him like Ruiz did, in my opinion.
That match should've given Wilder some confidence, but I doubt it influenced Fury much at all, to be honest.

 

The massive money fight is Joshua vs Fury, but another year slips by as it can’t be this year after what happened Saturday.

It’s a fight that’d break all U.K. records imo, and if Wilder was lined up to fight the winner it’d be the perfect match up (assuming Joshua sees off the fat lad and gets his belts back lol)

 

If you compare his approach for the Whyte fight and how he handled the first round vs this fight, it’s plainly obvious that the nasty streak which made us all excited about AJ, has officially gone. He’s become this overly-humble, fake, less appealing version of himself.

His promoter is and always will be a retard of the highest order, it looked like Dylian Whyte was ready to annihilate EH a few months ago and I think it’s only going to be so long before one of them does him in.

 

Joshua's always had this public persona, though. It's not new.
If he can't motivate himself in the ring any more, then that's on him.

 

I've not read all the comments so I don't know if this has been touched on already, but I saw this and I was quite shocked:

"During fight week, Joshua told Carl Frampton that after beating Wladimir Klitschko in a topsy-turvy 2017 bout, he had informed trainer Rob McCracken he would "give up" if he needed to be in fights which played out like a rollercoaster again."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/48489862

You can't have that mindset in competitive sports otherwise you may as well give up now. He's basically saying if it gets too tough, he'd rather get beat, instead of proving why he should be the best.

On the flipside, he has said before that he doesn't need money, has secured enough for him and his family for the rest of their lives and is only boxing for personal glory. He said this 5 months ago in an interview with IFLTV. He's been ranked #1 and beaten a lot of big names, whilst also fulfilling a childhood dream of being world champion.

Maybe he's just lost motivation for the time-being?
We saw it with Fury too.

 

He's gone all Ozil.

I don't think that he gave up, honestly. He didn't know what was going on and was clearly struggling physically.
He asked why he felt like he did and lost track of what round it was.
The physical signs of damage from sparring were evident and I think he might have come into the match slightly concussed.

 

I don't think he gave up in that specific fight with Ruiz either. However, the fact he is telling his trainer that he'd rather not get involved in a tit-for-tat fight again a la Klitschko isn't the mentality of a champion. If he wants to fight Wilder or Fury in the future, he has to accept they will be very tough fights which could go the full distance.

I think he needed this loss to reassess his priorities. I don't know if he was slightly concussed going into the fight, but he certainly seemed sluggish and demotivated. You step into the ring with the top dogs like that, you'll get eaten alive.

I have to give credit to Ruiz though. Didn't think he stood a chance prior to the fight, but he was surprisingly energetic and agile, with good head movement, footwork and nice punch selections. Looks can be deceiving!

 

Ruiz was an awful choice of opponent. He's better than he looks and had virtually no profile.
Joshua wins? So what? Who cares? Joshua loses? Massive shock and embarrassment.
I doubt that Fury's made a similar mistake with Schwarz, but there's no way that he'll go into that fight feeling complacent now.

No boxer wants to have to go to war with his opponents, but they should be prepared to if it's necessary.
If Joshua doesn't want it enough to take that step, then he should do a Hamed and quit now.
Going in half-hearted could get him seriously hurt or worse.

 

Fury was shockingly very respectful and sympathetic to Joshua in his twitter post after the fight, and obviously Whyte wasn't at all, insinuating Joshua had been taking drugs (which is bizarre, as Whyte was banned from boxing for two years in 2013, testing positive for methylhexaneamine. Glass houses and all that...). Then he responds to Fury's twitter post about Joshua calling him a "Pussy."

Whyte is a good fighter, albeit very hotheaded, and has never backed down from a challenge, but he is desperate for a fight with Fury. Fury would outbox Whyte with ease, in my opinion.
Would be hilarious if Whyte gets beaten by Rivas too, though I suspect it won't happen.

 

I’d like to see Whyte vs Fury. Fury should school him on the end of his jab, but you never know with Whyte, he could walk through it, as he doesn’t mind taking one to land one!

 

This is the reason why Whyte is baiting Fury -the WBC wants him and Fury to fight to be the number 1 contender for Wilder's title but Fury doen't want the fight any more https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/550631/tyson-fury-dillian-whyte-fight-not-interested/

Is a shame for Whyte - even though he is the #1 ranked WBC fighter, he keeps on being overlooked for Wilder's title.

 

Amir Khan is going to face some Indian kid in Saudi Arabia for a reported £7m https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/...inst-neeraj-goyat-on-july-12-in-saudi-arabia/

Is good money for a glorified exhibition fight I suppose.