Joshua v Ruiz 2

[Fatboxingfan]

It's clear Joshua has no desire left for the sport. He was not just whipped physically but mentally and emotionally his heart isn't in it anymore. He can't adjust to this beatdown, he'll get beat down again.

[Alpha]

Povetkin and Hunter continue to face tough opposition. Credit to both guys.

[Master]

Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz 2 undercard: Michael Hunter, Alexander Povetkin and Scott Quigg added to bill

Alexander Povetkin and Michael Hunter will meet on the undercard of Andy Ruiz Jr vs Anthony Joshua II in Saudi Arabia.

The first three undercard fights for the 7 December show in Riyadh have been announced with former WBA super-bantamweight champion Scott Quigg set to take on Ireland’s Jono Carroll.

Filip Hrgovic with also be in action, taking on a former Joshua opponent in Eric Molina.

Hunter, who signed with Matchroom Boxing earlier this year, has just one defeat as a professional, a decision loss to the peerless Oleksandr Usyk in 2017. After securing an impressive win over Sergey Kuzmin in September, the 31-year-old takes on another Russian in Povetkin.

Povetkin is back on the title hunt after falling short against Joshua in September 2018, impressively dealing with Hughie Fury in his last outing in August this year.

Liam Smith vs Jessie Vargas is another rumoured undercard bout while Dereck Chisora is eager to appear on the show after stopping David Price in swift fashion last weekend.

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/ant...191000664.html

[Memphis]

Tough one for Joshua this. The party line from Joshua and the pro Joshua crowd will be he got careless and got caught and never recovered. Technically accurate I suppose. But it removes any credit from Ruiz and completely rules out the possibility that it was always coming at some point, might not have been the third round, but it was coming. Ruiz looked totally at ease in there at all times, even when he was on the seat of his pants for the first time, he never flinched. He punched with Joshua pretty much every time and had the better success, he's faster, a more fluid and natural puncher technically, he was never not going to have some success. Why would that be different second time of asking with the added confidence (if he needed it) that he knows he can beat him and Joshua knows he can beat him.

I've said since day one that Joshua has an identity dilemma. He's supposed to be an outside boxer puncher, but his natural instinct is to be a fighter. He can keep it in check to a degree, did it pretty well against Povetkin, but because he's constantly caught between the two, when he gets close and lets fly, his body is in kill mode but his brain still seems to be on the outside and when some leather comes back at him it shorts a circuit. Saw it against Whyte, Wlad, Ruiz... people will say it's stamina, it isn't, I've never believed that. It's mental, it just manifests itself physically, but the root of the problem is his head, he burns up mentally when things go wrong. He was able to right the ship against Whyte and Wlad, Ruiz never let him off the hook.

As he matures the beaten path would suggest that he becomes more at one with the boxer puncher approach, seen it many times, Lennox Lewis the prime example. But it's horses for courses, Joshua's best approach might be to take the surprise element out of the equation and just embrace the fact that he's a fighter and take his brain with him into those firefight exchanges he likes to get himself into.

I'd like to see him reverse the loss. I'm not so sure he will.

[Alpha]

Ruiz looks in decent shape, and I see he was sparring with Hunter. I feel it's a tough fight for both guys. I'm going to hold off until a bit closer to fight time, but right now I slightly favor Joshua.

[Master]

Ruiz looks in decent shape, and I see he was sparring with Hunter. I feel it's a tough fight for both guys. I'm going to hold off until a bit closer to fight time, but right now I slightly favor Joshua.

I agree, I see AJ boxing cautiously and not taking any unnecessary risks, as he did with Parker, and winning on points.

[Mark TKO]

Ruiz looks to have lost a shit load of weight. Not sure if that’s a good idea.

Only a month to go. I’m still slightly favouring Ruiz as he has the mental edge but that could change