Joshua knocked out in sparring and was suffering from concussion?

Few story's floating about that the reason AJs dad was shouting at Hearn after the fight was because he wanted the fight postponed after AJ was knocked out cold in sparring.
Would explain the bruise on his face he claimed was down to his physio?


Just read this from another forum....


Supposedly he was knocked out during sparring and got a concussion.... I don’t know how close to fight week.

Because of this his Dad wanted the fight cancelled or postponed but Hearn wouldn’t allow it due to the publicity and potential financial losses. That’s possibly why his Dad was having a real go at Hearn after the fight.

This would also explain why AJ seemed lost in the corner from the first round and asking what to do and why he was feeling like that etc. He also looked kinda banged up with bruises and swollen eyes.

If it’s true then it’s definitely a bad look for Hearn.

There’s no official reports of this yet but something definitely seemed off from the start and this would go some way towards explaining it.

This isn’t making excuses by the way, it really would be a sign of how they terribly underestimated Ruiz though.

Joe Dawejko from Philly is said to be the fighter who knocked him out 😉

I know for a fact his dad was pissed off because Eddie was the driving force into going to America, none of team AJ were ever happy about it, they had his Wembley schedule booked from last year, instead they had to do all the extra work to sell 19,000 tickets.

Eddie fucked up big time (all for the DAZN).

Always a difficult one buying into the AJ knocked out in sparring party line. If you believe them all the cunt spends half his life unconscious. Might be true, might not. You'd think......that someone in that team full of experts that someone would pull the plug. Difficult to do in practice I know. At the very least it monumentally embarrassing for AJ without even going into the financial implications. But the fuckers life is on the line.

There was definitely something off with him. Before, during and after the fight. You could excuse a bit of weirdness during and after I suppose, he had his canister twatted around repeatedly from round three onward.

I've said it since day one and nothing has ever changed my mind. AJ is a fighter not a boxer. The template for a bloke his size is to keep it long, bomb the right hand in and bring the hooks in later, I get it, but it just doesn't look right and he's always looked more comfortable up close ripping hooks and uppercuts. I've never seen an elite level fighter who is being moulded as a jab right cross merchant be so unsure of his right hand and repeatedly fall short with it or not know when to throw it.

Interesting to see what comes next. He's a smart bloke and I wouldn't expect him to make panic decisions outside the ring. But a change of approach and change of trainer wouldn't be a surprise at all. Not saying McCracken is in any way to blame, but something isn't right and it's the most obvious. A one of chinning like Lewis's losses ok fine, I got hit by a single punch that I didnt see coming. But Joshua got systematically beaten down, it was ugly.

It's gonna be hard for him to comeback from this mentally.
@Memphis I agree its the way in which he was beaten that's done the damage.
Round 6 he spent doing absolutely fuck all, pawing with a limp jab and just standing there taking shots and barely able to defend himself.
His refusal to ever move his head just made things worse.
I reckon tberes some truth in this sparring story though, he clearly didn't wanna talk about the big bruise on his face during fight week when Radio Raheem from seconds out asked him and the look on his face when AJ said it happened during "recovery" and his "physio did it" tells us alot (he looked at him as if to say fuck off with that BS story mate)
I don't fancy his chances at all in the rematch either as Ruiz knows he can easily hurt him and knows exactly how to beat him.
AJ was the same against Povetkin who also was smaller and faster and struggled in the first 4 rounds.
His nose explodes in every fight now too.
I'd like to see him jump ship and make some changes because fight by fight since Klitschko he's looked more and more beatable.
Far too much muscle mass to the point wheres he looks more and more like Bruno with every fight.
If he loses the rematch you've gotta say the Wilder or Fury fights are worthless and he's finished.
All the belts are now in the USA and both fighters are with Al Haymon.
Massive shift in power happened on Saturday night 😉

Excuses. Just say that Andy Ruiz Jr. kicked his ass.

Ruiz fought well and fully deserved the win but there was definitely something wrong with Joshua.

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Originally Posted by ykdadamaja

Excuses. Just say that Andy Ruiz Jr. kicked his ass.

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Amen to that, brother.

It wasn't Madison Square Garden. It wasn't that AJ may now be a Muslim. If he was allowed to fight with a concussion, someone(s) should get their licences taken away. Seriously.

It wasn't the food. It wasn't the water. It wasn't the air.

He got his butt whipped. Pure and simple. He was gracious in defeat, and only he knows whether he can come back to his previous levels after this. It's also not the end of the world. He lost his "0". Big deal.

Oh..... and to those who claim this proves that AJ would beat Wilder.... I really don't know what to say. :vd:

AJ's a likable guy. He probably needed to be brought back to Earth a little, and it's been done. Best wishes to him on his comeback trail.

The one I'm gloating about is Hearn.

All this posturing..... all this grandstanding.... now he's just whimpering in a corner pulling our Plan B, Plan C, Plan D....... etc.

It's no ones job here to make excuses for a fighter, that's their job or people they employ. Lets not let that get in the way of further discussion and observation though right? It's kind of what this place is for.

Yes he got beat and beat badly. No one has suggested otherwise. But when you notice things like AJ saying after the opening three minutes, in which nothing actually happened 'What do I do now?' It's worth chewing the fat off no? There was some odd behaviour from the now x champ. It makes for interesting discussion.

If he was ko'd in sparring prior to this, they need to examine him to see what damage was done. If they want to heal this right he's going to need to be out for a while. Maybe a year plus. The longer the better if he's to continue with his career.

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Originally Posted by Memphis

It's no ones job here to make excuses for a fighter, that's their job or people they employ. Lets not let that get in the way of further discussion and observation though right? It's kind of what this place is for.

Yes he got beat and beat badly. No one has suggested otherwise. But when you notice things like AJ saying after the opening three minutes, in which nothing actually happened 'What do I do now?' It's worth chewing the fat off no? There was some odd behaviour from the now x champ. It makes for interesting discussion.

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We also have a right to dismiss heresay or bullshit.

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Originally Posted by ykdadamaja

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Originally Posted by Memphis

It's no ones job here to make excuses for a fighter, that's their job or people they employ. Lets not let that get in the way of further discussion and observation though right? It's kind of what this place is for.

Yes he got beat and beat badly. No one has suggested otherwise. But when you notice things like AJ saying after the opening three minutes, in which nothing actually happened 'What do I do now?' It's worth chewing the fat off no? There was some odd behaviour from the now x champ. It makes for interesting discussion.

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We also have a right to dismiss heresay or bullshit.

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How do you think he got a big visible bruise under his left eye which was still visible on fight night?
There's ALOT of clues that there is some truth to this sparring story.

It's like a lot of big upsets, they look less and less like upsets when you know the story of the build up to the fight.

It was only some time after the biggest upset in heavyweight history that we realised the extent of Tyson's poor training, terrible sparring performances, disintegrating private life and shattered psyche.

Once you know all that, it doesn't really look like an upset at all.

Something goes wrong in every single fight camp, whether it's injury, morale, boredom, training or personal conflicts, so I really doubt there are many 'perfect' camps really.

Joshua certainly looked completely psyched out or spaced out before the fight, and his confusion throughout was noteworthy. He kept asking what Ruiz would do next in his corner and could not remember what shots he had been hit by. That sort of sounds like a guy who already had a concussion.

If that's the case, somebody should go to jail.

On the other hand, remember when some overhyped guys like Duane Bobick, Audley Harrison and Primo Carnera suffered devastating defeats ........

Lets also not forget Ben Johnson and Lance Armstrong 🤔

Only time will tell which camp AJ falls into.

Rumour going around that his socks were to tight and he stubbed his big toe on his way into the ring as well.

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Originally Posted by Spicoli

Rumour going around that his socks were to tight and he stubbed his big toe on his way into the ring as well.

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Well, that's a great excuse. We all know how devastating a toe injury can be ;D

And that was only his little toe!

Ive heard the curse of Drake is to blame as well.
Google it 😁

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/ant...035347706.html


Also I'm pretty sure it was David Hayes little toe that prevented him from becoming the unified champ :S

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Originally Posted by palmerq

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/ant...035347706.html


Also I'm pretty sure it was David Hayes little toe that prevented him from becoming the unified champ :S

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:rolleyes:

There's no way they would have let him fight with a concussion. If he'd had a concussion the fight would one hundred percent not have happened. He would have developed an excuse injury and pulled out. He got properly buzzed in the third round and gradually fell apart. A little bit David Price like and worryingly when he turned his back and really didn't seem eager to continue a little bit Victor Ortiz like. I can see the same thing happening in the rematch. He's made a lot of money and doesn't like getting beaten up.

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Originally Posted by Kirkland Laing

There's no way they would have let him fight with a concussion. If he'd had a concussion the fight would one hundred percent not have happened. He would have developed an excuse injury and pulled out. He got properly buzzed in the third round and gradually fell apart. A little bit David Price like and worryingly when he turned his back and really didn't seem eager to continue a little bit Victor Ortiz like. I can see the same thing happening in the rematch. He's made a lot of money and doesn't like getting beaten up.

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Naw man, they’re going to risk HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS and AJs life over something they could easily reschedule. DAZN is slated to lose 4.6 billion over the next 3 years, what do they care about hundreds of millions more?

If they did they are the stupidest people on earth. Who believes they are the stupidest people on earth?

https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2019...ring-knockout/

Well this article seems confident that he was sparked out during his training camp

It’s quotes like this that lead to so damn much misinformation being put out

“
Joshua was put down badly in a training session (fighter named here), which was evident in marks on the former world champion’s face.”

Anything is possible but again, if they risked hundreds of millions of dollars over something that easily could have been rescheduled they are stupid.

Anything could be true, but fights are constantly rescheduled for basically nothing nowadays. I don’t think there would have been an outrage if it were postponed. Especially since Ruiz was a replacement opponent anyways

The chance of him sparring at all during the last week of camp are minimal.

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Originally Posted by Batman

https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2019...ring-knockout/

Well this article seems confident that he was sparked out during his training camp

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That site is utterly pathetic, it pretends every bullshit windup on social media is their scoop.

So is anyone buying this story?

I just read another rumour that AJ had some kind of panic attack in the dressing room which caused the big delay.


Eddie Hearn shoots down claims of Anthony Joshua panic attack and sparring KO before Andy Ruiz defeat

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/box...-a4158791.html

A day later and I’m still really bothered by the level of ignorance in these articles

“Physically Joshua would have been fine for fight night, although mentally whether the Briton was all there is in question.”

That is the kind of stupid you expect from fans. There is no way this writer could know if physically his concussion was no longer symptomatic. To write it and have an editor okay such ignorance is embarrassing

Dillian Whyte has chipped in claiming it was AJs lack of steroids that cost him the fight.

Long-term heavyweight rival Whyte has offered his own suggestions for the defeat....

“Joshua could be heard on camera asking his trainer Rob McCracken, ‘Why do I feel like this?’ after the sixth round," Whyte told his YouTube channel.

“It is because you’re in America with the VADA testing and you’re not on the juice, that’s why.

“It’s harder to get therapeutic use exemptions in America than the UK, that’s why.”

Whyte has labelled similar accusations at Joshua before and responded to the defeat on Sunday by posting a video of The Verve song The Drugs Don't Work.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxin...whyte-16251306

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Originally Posted by smashup

Dillian Whyte has chipped in claiming it was AJs lack of steroids that cost him the fight.

Long-term heavyweight rival Whyte has offered his own suggestions for the defeat....

“Joshua could be heard on camera asking his trainer Rob McCracken, ‘Why do I feel like this?’ after the sixth round," Whyte told his YouTube channel.

“It is because you’re in America with the VADA testing and you’re not on the juice, that’s why.

“It’s harder to get therapeutic use exemptions in America than the UK, that’s why.”

Whyte has labelled similar accusations at Joshua before and responded to the defeat on Sunday by posting a video of The Verve song The Drugs Don't Work.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxin...whyte-16251306

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Honestly, that’s the most believable theory out of them all

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Originally Posted by smashup

Dillian Whyte has chipped in claiming it was AJs lack of steroids that cost him the fight.

Long-term heavyweight rival Whyte has offered his own suggestions for the defeat....

“Joshua could be heard on camera asking his trainer Rob McCracken, ‘Why do I feel like this?’ after the sixth round," Whyte told his YouTube channel.

“It is because you’re in America with the VADA testing and you’re not on the juice, that’s why.

“It’s harder to get therapeutic use exemptions in America than the UK, that’s why.”

Whyte has labelled similar accusations at Joshua before and responded to the defeat on Sunday by posting a video of The Verve song The Drugs Don't Work.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxin...whyte-16251306

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Joshua has has TUEs for some drug? Does anybody know anything about this from a credible source? Not going to bother with google.

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Originally Posted by powerpuncher

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smashup

Dillian Whyte has chipped in claiming it was AJs lack of steroids that cost him the fight.

Long-term heavyweight rival Whyte has offered his own suggestions for the defeat....

“Joshua could be heard on camera asking his trainer Rob McCracken, ‘Why do I feel like this?’ after the sixth round," Whyte told his YouTube channel.

“It is because you’re in America with the VADA testing and you’re not on the juice, that’s why.

“It’s harder to get therapeutic use exemptions in America than the UK, that’s why.”

Whyte has labelled similar accusations at Joshua before and responded to the defeat on Sunday by posting a video of The Verve song The Drugs Don't Work.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxin...whyte-16251306

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Honestly, that’s the most believable theory out of them all

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ive heard afew stories

knocked out in sparring the week of the fight
confiding in his trainer that he doesn't want anymore wars
panic attack in training room
unable to use roids
strangest was a Mexican curse being put on joshua

whichever you choose to believe if any it doesn't detract from what Ruiz did. He fully deserves the win but I do believe there was something wrong with Joshua. The way he was blinking and looking dazed before the 1st bell and the arguments between Hearn and his dad after the fight points to something being wrong that we don't know about. Not sure we will find out because Joshua doesn't want to become the new David Haye toe excuse maker. It's already embarassing enough losing in that fashion to an obese small guy so excuses would make it worse

quick to agree a rematch aswel which suggests the inner circle know summat we don't

AJ knocked Ruiz down and everyone expected it to be a 3 round KO and AJ to get on the microphone afterwards and bait Wilder.

Ruiz took his best shot, hit the canvas and said in his mind that he was not going out like this..he stood up and both men fought in the centre of the ring..Ruiz was more accurate and connected..Ruiz fought to win this fight and was the better man on the night.

No excuses.

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Originally Posted by GAME

Quote:

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Originally Posted by powerpuncher

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smashup

Dillian Whyte has chipped in claiming it was AJs lack of steroids that cost him the fight.

Long-term heavyweight rival Whyte has offered his own suggestions for the defeat....

“Joshua could be heard on camera asking his trainer Rob McCracken, ‘Why do I feel like this?’ after the sixth round," Whyte told his YouTube channel.

“It is because you’re in America with the VADA testing and you’re not on the juice, that’s why.

“It’s harder to get therapeutic use exemptions in America than the UK, that’s why.”

Whyte has labelled similar accusations at Joshua before and responded to the defeat on Sunday by posting a video of The Verve song The Drugs Don't Work.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxin...whyte-16251306

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Honestly, that’s the most believable theory out of them all

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ive heard afew stories

knocked out in sparring the week of the fight
confiding in his trainer that he doesn't want anymore wars
panic attack in training room
unable to use roids
strangest was a Mexican curse being put on joshua

whichever you choose to believe if any it doesn't detract from what Ruiz did. He fully deserves the win but I do believe there was something wrong with Joshua. The way he was blinking and looking dazed before the 1st bell and the arguments between Hearn and his dad after the fight points to something being wrong that we don't know about. Not sure we will find out because Joshua doesn't want to become the new David Haye toe excuse maker. It's already embarassing enough losing in that fashion to an obese small guy so excuses would make it worse

quick to agree a rematch aswel which suggests the inner circle know summat we don't

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Yeah i thought he got 30 days to decide so to do it after 3 days definitely suggests something went very wrong in the camp or even on the night.
It's now gone from being a bit of a novelty/joke fight to the rematch being Massive.

I rewatched the entire thing and something definitely seemed wrong with Joshua even before the fight. Ruiz was normal and obviously up for a fight, but Joshua looked tense, pensive, was getting his neck massaged, showed zero life until finally raising his hands when announced. You would be expecting him to look focused, move around, do a few stretches, but instead he was laid back almost wanting to go to bed. It makes me wonder about the panic theory as after a panic attack your chemicals are all over the place and you would indeed question 'Why you feel like this'. He was away from home, adapting to different weather, time zones and all of that. Maybe it got to him. Even watching the first two rounds, he didn't look that in control either. He was in the fight, but not really using his advantages very well and seemed very unsure of himself. Then again, maybe it was because he was hurt sparring. But why would you spar so close to a fight? Hatton of course had bad sparring for Pac, but Joshua wasn't fighting prime Manny in there and I doubt he was being put through as silly a routine as what Mayweather did with Hatton. It is all very strange. Then there are the drug rumors.

We just don't know thus it makes a rematch look like a very interesting fight.