By Charles Brun: Dillian Whyte says something seems strange with the way that former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua came unglued in losing to Andy Ruiz Jr. last Saturday night. Whyte thinks the pressure of being a world champion may have gotten to Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs), and led to him losing to Ruiz Jr. (33-1, 22 KOs) by a seventh round knockout at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“Something is not right,” said Whyte to IFL TV about Joshua losing to Ruiz.
Joshua ran into a fighter with better hand speed, better engine and with a superior chin than him. With all the advantages that Ruiz had over Joshua, the end result was a forgone conclusion. When you’re stamina and your chin are lacking, you’re going to lose nine times out of ten. It doesn’t help Joshua that he looked like a bodybuilder that had gotten lost while looking for the weight room last Saturday night.
Whyte: Joshua has no choice but to fight Ruiz again
Dillian says Joshua has no choice but to face Ruiz in immediate rematch due to the pressure the boxing public will be putting on him. He just hopes that Joshua takes the rematch with Ruiz because he wants to face him again, not because of the pressure from fans. The risk of Joshua facing Ruiz immediately in a rematch in November, which is when his promoter Eddie Hearn wants it, is he’s not going to have much time to iron out the mistakes that he made in the first fight. Joshua has already come out and said he’s going to stay loyal to his long time trainer Rob McCracken,” which means he likely won’t improve much. Joshua’s flaws that he showed against Ruiz Jr. last Saturday have been there since day one as a pro, and McCracken hasn’t done anything to improve AJ. The chances are that Joshua will be the same fighter for the rematch with Ruiz, and he’ll end up getting knocked out again.
“I think whether AJ wants the rematch or not, he’s going to have to take it [against Ruiz], because there’s a lot of pressure on him,” said Whyte to Sky Sports News about Joshua. “I just hope he doesn’t make the wrong decision, and go in there with peer pressure. Hopefully, he believes he wants the rematch, and he wants it because he wants it, not because of peer pressure. We’ve seen it time and time again, guys jumping into a rematch straightaway after losing, and then they end up losing again, because of peer pressure, TV stations and the general public. Joshua has done well. He’s made a hell of a lot of money. He unified the division, and he won an Olympic gold medal. He’s done a great job so far. He just needs to stay focused. If he wants the rematch [with Ruiz], go and do it,” said Whyte.
Joshua staying focused might not be enough for him to beat Ruiz. When you’ve got stamina and a chin problem, you can stay focused all you want, and you’re still going to lose. Joe Frazier was focused in his two fights against George Foreman, and he was still obliterated both times. There’s only so much a fighter can do in terms of focusing. What Joshua needs to do to improve his game is to get a big broom and sweep out his entire training team from the gym, and start with an entirely new team. Someone needs to put a lock on the weight lifting room to keep Joshua from weight lifting. He’s been focusing too much on building up his muscles, and he’s put on too much muscle since turning pro. Joshua has become a modern day Primo Canera. Joshua is too big, and is unable to carry around his huge muscles without gassing out.
Joshua didn’t overlook Ruiz says Whyte
“I don’t think he overlooked Andy Ruiz. If anything, he was a little bit too respectful,” said Whyte. “He [Joshua] was giving him his belts [to hold], and taking photos with him. I was thinking, ‘You’re about to go to war with this man. I don’t understand why you’re handing your belts over to him.’ The whole thing was a bit strange. Joshua’s demeanor, the way his mindset, and whole approach, it was a bit strange for my liking. Maybe he didn’t want the pressure of being champion anymore? Sometimes people break down, and they can’t cope with the stress of being under a microscope 24 hours a day,” said Whyte.
Whyte is making a mistake of not giving the highly talented Ruiz Jr. credit for his win over Joshua. What happened to Joshua wasn’t just because he didn’t want the pressure of being the unified IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion anymore, as Whyte maintains. What happened was Joshua ran into a fighter that was better than him, and had more experience than he did. If this had been Whyte inside the ring with Ruiz last Saturday, he likely lost to him as well. Ruiz looked better in his fight against Joseph Parker than Whyte did, even though he lost. A lot of fans saw Parker’s win over Ruiz as a good old fashioned hometown decision. This writer had Ruiz beating Parker by a 118-110 score. It was one-sided.
In Whyte’s close 12 round unanimous decision win over Parker last July, he got away with fouling him, and was given credit for a head-butt knockdown in the second round. The referee Ian John Lewis was completely lost in that fight. He blew the knockdown call in the second round in giving Whyte credit for a knockdown that he didn’t deserve, and then he was oblivous to the fouling that Dillian was doing. Parker deserved the win, but he found himself on the receiving end of a controversial decision in London. In the 12th, Parker knocked Whyte down and was close to scoring a stoppage when the bell rang. There’s no comparison to how much better job Ruiz did against Parker compared to Whyte.
Whyte: Joshua can come back from loss
“I think he can come back. I think it’s good for British boxing if he comes back, because me and him can still get in a beef,” said Whyte. “Even if he loses 10 fights in a row, I still want to fight him again. Hopefully, he does come back bigger and stronger. I’m a bit sad that Andy Ruiz is the one that beat him inside the ring instead of it being me. This is boxing. If you fight against top contenders, you will get knocked out [from time to time].”
Well, Whyte already had his chance against Joshua, and he failed miserably in getting stopped in the seventh round in 2015. The only interest in a retread fight between Joshua and Whyte are from boxing fans in the UK. American fans don’t want to see a retread fight between Joshua and Whyte. They already saw them, and it was boring and one-sided. A fat and out of shape Whyte ran out of gas after two rounds, and was stopped. The U.S fans want to see Joshua fight good opposition like Deontay Wilder and Ruiz. Whyte needs to start good opponents like Luis Ortiz instead of faded guys like Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne.
It’s debatable whether Joshua can come back from the loss to Ruiz or not. We already know that Joshua has chosen not to dump his trainer McCracken, and he’s also decided not to take tune-up fights. Boxing great George Foreman advised Joshua NOT to face Ruiz right now, but he’s chosen not to heed this advice. As such, Joshua is steaming straight ahead into the rocks once again, and he could wind up sorry for his decision when he gets sunk for the second time.
“Deontay Wilder, he’s fought nobody, and that’s why he hasn’t lost,” said a bitter sounding Whyte. The few good people he fought almost beat him, and knocked him out. Tyson Fury, I believe, won the fight [against Wilder]. He fought Luis Ortiz; Luis Ortiz is a good fighter, but he’s old now. So while he had energy in his tank, he [Ortiz] almost knocked him [Wilder] out. I’ve been fighting good fighters. I’ve been taking on all comers. Anyone that wants it can have it,” said Whyte.
Whyte says Wilder lost to Fury. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The fight was scored a draw, and Fury was lucky that the referee didn’t stop the fight when he was knocked unconscious in the 12th round by Wilder. Fury was knocked down twice by WBC champion Wilder in the bout. There aren’t too many challengers that beat the champions when they get knocked down twice. Whyte had a chance to fight Luis Ortiz in a title eliminator in 2018, but he chose the soft route in facing Big Daddy Browne and Dereck Chisora. Whyte says he’ll fight anyone, but obviously that’s not the case, is it?