First 3-4 rounds is going to be blood in the water. Ruiz and his camp have to know he has a chance of making it an easy night if he jumps on Joshua and triggers all the "oh sh*t here we go again...wtf am i doing in here..i must have been crazy to sign" feelings. 3-4 is enough to give Ruiz chance to go full bore and while Joshua is trying to shake the jitters and accept his fate (good or bad) and realize he can survive it and win if he chooses to.

Now I'm not suggesting Ruiz be stupid and run in and start wailing away trying to steamroll. If hes smart, he'll be aggressive but careful. What Ruiz is looking for is Joshua to give him an opportunity to counter by opening up when he tries to back Ruiz off with heavy artillery. Force Joshua to fight without putting himself in a bad situation (change it up by feinting a little bit and going low-- same aggression different look as you know Joshua's camp will be combing the tapes expecting him to come up top and straight ahead.

For Joshua, he needs to take it one round at a time and slowly build his confidence (give Ruiz death by a thousand cuts) and have a game plan to switch up mid rounds after he has Ruiz thinking he can have his way. Don't take the Ruiz bait and be tempted to throw with him unless its straight down the middle where Ruiz's arms are too short to throw straight punches with Joshua (don't hook with the hooker). Otherwise, let Ruiz be active and aggressive, but show him something different by jabbing to the mid section to keep him off balance and let him find a way past it. When he makes it past, into mid-range, Joshua needs to keep his hands, chin down, elbows tight and pick his spots for the straight punches down the pike. After he lands, or if Ruiz makes it all the way in... he needs to tie up Ruiz and smother Ruiz's instinct to brawl on the inside where hes normally hard to contain, lean on him and just start tenderizing the body a bit before the ref separates. After 4 rounds of of this, it should take some of the gas out of Ruiz, and Joshua can start aggressive working the jab and right hands and use some angles to pick at him, but under no circumstances start going combo crazy in mid range until Ruiz starts slowing down and his legs have gone. Ruiz is always dangerous. Joshua's other option is to straight outpace him, but Joshua's bulk prevents that, he'll wear down faster than Ruiz.

Problems: Joshua and wilder have the same problem. They get caught up in offense and then get caught ugly, because they never see the punches coming. Both train to avoid these punches from the outside, but do nothing for mid range. They need need mitt work that's going to to improve hand eye coordination at mid-range (A different approach would be some wing chun drills, if you can't see it at least feel it) Joshua gets flustered inside and succumbs to the pressure because his focus is on his defense and escaping rather than his opponents punches. He shells up indiscriminately and waits for the storm to be over. @SlimTrae, the shots to the side of the head are key for Ruiz. Joshua's shoulders are big and Ruiz is shorter, so that puts Joshua's chin right behind shoulders from ruiz's perspective. The punches that Ruiz is buzzing Joshua with is probably not by design as much as happy coincidence as he's trying to get his punches up over the shoulders to get to the head. Those, fortunately for Ruiz, land right on the side of the head over and behind the ear, that will really screw with your equilibrium and have a greater chance of maximizing the force jarring the brain, because your heads tethered and more stable at the bottom because of your traps and the muscles in the neck.

Ruiz carries some extra pounds obviously, and preserves himself by fighting in spurts. He always looks like hes ready to go and is better conditioned than many people would believe at first glance. He also hides it well because of his attitude. @El Kabong , i'm not so sure if it was the knock down making Joshua relax as much as it was Ruiz getting up and not giving a F*ck that made him tight. I believe Joshua's blood ran cold when Ruiz got up and acted not only like it didn't happen but that he just insulted and fought harder. He took Joshua's best shot and Joshua couldn't take his. They both know it and that's dangerous for both. It was the same attitude that Maidana and other fighters wear to the ring (win or die trying). Joshua seems like a likeable guy, and a Professional. When a Gentleman encounters a savage, whether he chooses to outsmart him or out brawl him, he has to understand him first. I'm not sure Joshua does just because he also got up from vlad's knockdown to return the favor. There in lies the other danger... Does Ruiz now lose some of that? Will he fight harder because he doesn't want the dream to end now that he's arrived or will he say I've made it, relax and not know what happened until after his coach has turned back into a pumpkin.

Just my opinions, of course.