OT: Ruiz TKO’s Anthony Joshua
In a shocking upset, Andy Ruiz Jr defeats undefeated WBO, WBA, IBF, IBO Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua with a 7th round TKO.
This stunning loss by Joshua puts the opportunity of a prize unity bout in jeopardy. No longer is an undefeated Joshua vs an undefeated Wilder/Fury unification bout possible.
Wilder has a fight with Luis Ortiz then the much anticipated rematch vs Tyson Fury who fought to a draw this past December.
My prediction: Joshua beats Ruiz in the rematch then again in a grudge fight. Wilder and Fury fight for the WBC belt, and then in early 2021 Joshua fights the winner of Wilder Fury in a fight 2 years too late.
Thoughts on tonight’s fight, and where the heavyweight division goes after tonight?
Joshua has been ducking Wilder... a la rocky in Rocky III except he got beat by his protection fight. Boxing is still dumb.
It wasn't even the fight he was scheduled to have; Jerrell 'Big Baby' Miller was busted for doping and Ruiz was the replacement. I don't know if DAZN wanted to stay away from any controversy but no one is going to accuse Ruiz of doping.
He'll probably test positive for cholesterol, and that's it.
-What are you talking about? I’ve had 10 title defenses.
- That was easy!!
-What do you mean easy?
-THEY WAS HAND PICKED!!
Setups?
No, they wasn’t setups! They was good fighters. But they wasn’t killers, like this guy.
"He'll knock ya to tomorrow, Rock"
And he did. Good prediction, Mick.
Wilder Fury was defeated by Ayra Stark.
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I wanted to watch it, fell asleep, and was shocked when I woke up to the headlines. I like aj so obviously not happy
Ruiz looks like a beer delivery man. Or a contestant from a local tough man contest. Joshua's cred will take a hit after this one.
I think really what it comes down to is that Joshua has a weak chin.
It is tough for Joshua to realize he didn’t lose to an undefeated lineal champ who dethroned Klitschko or the longtime WBC champion, but to a guy who well, doesn’t fit the bill of the heavyweight champion of the world.
I do think Joshua dominates Ruiz in the rematch. At this point however, I don’t think he competes with Wilder or Fury
Unless AJ commits himself, that rematch could be a redo. After I read about what happened I checked the fight out. As soon as I saw Ruiz I let out a guffaw; he looked like flabby overweight guy from a toughman contest. It was all a mirage; Ruiz had quality skills, ridiculous quicks for a big guy, power, and stamina. AJ was not prepared for it; I think he was losing the fight when he went down again in the 7th. He got up but you could tell he didn't want to continue and was TKO'd. I'm sure Ruiz caught AJ on an off night, but he beat him fair and square. Just like Tyson/Douglas, it shows you what can happen to a champ when he takes an underdog for granted.
Agreed. Ruiz was a lot quicker and more powerful than he looks. It didn’t take long to realize that Joshua could be in trouble but I thought if he made it to the middle rounds Ruiz would tire and Joshua would take control. Obviously that didn’t happen.
I thought that too; just another surprise in the fight. Ruiz, that dude was in disquise; he's actually a good fighter. He should be nicknamed the bumblebee because you just don't see how he flies. Even when he started out well you know everyone was thinking, 'wait until AJ catches you with one, ya pork chop'. When he got knocked down in third, if they'd started blaring Eminem, "Snap! Back to reality, oh! there goes gravity", it would have been proper. I've seen guys get knocked down and come back to win, but not like that...
Looks can be deceiving. The world’s strongest men aren’t on the IFBB circuit.
Boxing is such a mess right now and I don't see it changing anytime soon.
Too many different Championship belts by too many boxing organizations is only part of the problem, but unless and until one organization takes control and forces a cleanup, including meaningful standards and rules governing contenders getting a shot at the championship, boxing is going to continue to be a 3rd-rate sport.
I grew up in an era where championship boxing matches were MAJOR sporting events in nearly every weight class. The heavyweights such as Ali and Frazier and Foreman and Tyson were nearly matched in importance by names such as Hagler and Leonard and Hearns and many many others in the lighter weight classes. Sure, there were two main organizations (WBA and WBC, I believe), but most weight classes had a unified champ or found a way to re-unify in an orderly fashion.
The mandatory fighters and rematches are killing the divisions currently. We have not had a unified champion since Lennox Lewis and that is going on almost 20 years ago.
It’s a shame because there have been some damn good fights along the way. Fury-Wilder was an exciting bout. Too bad fights like that only happen once every two or three years because of the mandatory fight provisions
The fights everyone wants to see happens 3 years too late. I hope they work it out where my guy Errol Spence & Terrance Crawford fight while they’re both undefeated. That will be one hell of a fight if they’re not 40 by the time they make it happen
Boxing deserves this mess.
Congrats to Ruiz and I do feel good for him. But this can happen when folk screw around and don't make THE fight when it is time to make THE fight.
Boxing is down, but there's a romanticized version of boxing's past that just isn't reality. Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Tyson and the Four Kings weren't constantly battling dangerous, top level guys in great fights. Fights were just promoted better in the golden age, and the rise of MMA (and combat sports channels where you can watch stuff like Muay Thai etc) has really hurt boxing overall. I actually still love boxing and prefer it to MMA, but I'd guess I'm in the minority these days.
You have a point, but there were many quality fighters in the late 60's thru the 70's. Promotion is everything. It even gets more guys into the sport, raising the level of fighter.
I think a huge problem is that everything seems to have went to PPV. Put fights back on where people can watch and... wait for it... people will watch.
I loved boxing 20 years ago. I had never even heard Ruiz's name until 11:30 last night, and didn't even realize there was a championship bout in the Garden (or I may have gone, as I had nothing better to do on a Saturday night.)
I couldn't believe that Joshua didn't jab more with that reach advantage. Oh and keep your right hand up and he couldn't keep hooking you over it.
Gotta think he'll watch the tape and correct the easy type of stuff. Then whoop his ass in the rematch.
a Brit learns once again never to underestimate an American.
Or a Mexican, as the case may be.
*Mexican-American
Mexico is a part of North America.
Ruiz destroys 145 years of physical fitness science in just 7 rounds
He was born in California.
Where’s Don King when you need him? Boxing was best when it was rigged to a couple levels above WWF.
Ortiz had Wilder in serious trouble the 1st time they fought. If he beats him in the rematch then you’ve really got a mess on your hands
Another nice mess?
It was a pretty good fight card.
Maybe I'm the only one but I clicked thinking Cesar Ruiz had been in some sort of off-field altercation or ancillary event. Ok, so maybe I don't follow boxing well after the glory days of 70-90's
You think there was some intentional deceit involved in the op's title utilizing a notable starting football player? Nah, had to be me.
Yeah something was off about AJ last night...he looked out of shape or gassed in the ring. Ruiz hit him with some good shots, but moreso he looked disinterested in being there.
Maybe Joshua was distracted by Ruiz’s shorts. There’s a lot going on there.
A great win for fat guys EVERYWHERE!!!
This is a great opportunity for Mars to push Snicker bars; apparently Ruiz eats one before every fight. I'm also suspecting there are other times as well.
Reminds me of an old SNL/John Belushi skit, Little Chocolate Donuts.
There is still heavy weight boxing? Cool.
On the subject, gimme you're thoughts on the whole DAZN business model. I had the freebie month for the Alvarez fight and canceled. Missing it though and hope it succeeds. I will probably sign back up.
Why did people downvote the post? I think this was a big event in the sports world. Not huge, but noteworthy
Technique trumps physique.
Indeed.
I have this Putin calendar, it’s amazing.
It's going to be another long, hot summer!
Normally I think "athlete X won because he wanted it more than athlete Y" is stupid cliché bunk, but in this case it's 100% accurate.
Even though he was still standing, Joshua didn't want any more of Ruiz. He basically said "no mas."