The sight of Anthony Joshua spitting out his gumshield after being knocked down for the 4th time by the unfancied Andy Ruiz Jr., will live in the memory banks for a very long time.
As the dust settles on the huge shock of Joshua having the stuffing systematically beaten out of him over 7 rounds by the flabby-looking Ruiz, opinion is divided as to whether Joshua can return from this setback and reach his goal of being the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion.
Former IBF Cruiserweight World Champion Glenn McCory was damning in his verdict of Joshua and believes that the nature of Joshua’s defeat leaves him at the bottom of the pile and went on to say that Joshua could possibly be finished as an elite Heavyweight and also let his country down.
Rivals such as WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder relished in the shock result and said that Joshua was never a true champion and that his career consisted of lies.
The rematch which is scheduled to take place at the time of writing either in November or December, gives Joshua a lot of time to reflect on the loss and what he needs to do in the rematch.
Joshua clearly lacked intensity in the fight and certainly there was no fear factor of his overweight opponent who must go down as one of the most improbable Heavyweight Champions in the history of Boxing.
The defeat to Ruiz will hurt Joshua a great deal not only in the manner of his loss but how humiliating the defeat was in which he surely wanted to not just showcase his skills to the American audience in Madison Square Garden, but to also respond to Deontay Wilder’s spectacular victory over Breazeale by beating Ruiz in emphatic style to make a statement that he is the number one Heavyweight in the Division.
Instead Joshua has had to eat humble pie against Ruiz who looked to have ate all the pies but still ends up as the Heavyweight champion.
In the rematch, Joshua will be the favourite to regain his titles in which he would be expected to bring out all the rage and emotional pain he has had to suffer to prove to the doubters that the loss to Ruiz was an off night in which he was perhaps guilty of being complacent.
However, the fast hands of Ruiz exploited the defensive weakness of Joshua which certainly doesn’t make the rematch into a certainty that Joshua will win against a man who has an impressive amateur record of 105 wins with just 5 defeats and just one controversial loss against former WBO champion Joshua Parker.
It is now abundantly clear that Joshua has stagnated as a fighter since the impressive victory over Wladimir Klitschko and the rematch against Ruiz will show fight fans whether he has the heart to fight his way back to the top of the Heavyweight tree.
Fully agreed. I have thought long and hard deciding if Joshua had an off night or his rise to stardom was all based on hype. Time will tell. The jury is out.