By Tim Royner: Anthony Joshua plans on using everything he learned in his defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr. to beat him in their rematch. Joshua says he lost to Ruiz Jr. (33-1, 22 KOs) because he was thinking of a unification fight against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. He wasn’t focused on Ruiz. He wasn’t his primary target. After suffering an embarrassing seventh round knockout loss to Ruiz, Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) says he’s fully motivated for the rematch. He says he’s going to “unleash the beast” on the Mexican American to take back his IBF, WBA and WBO titles.
In speaking to JD Sport, Joshua appeared unwilling to own his loss to Ruiz. He wasn’t able to admit that he got beat by a guy that was better prepared than him, and possessed the superior boxing skills and chin. Joshua attributed his loss on overlooking Ruiz, and not giving him the full focus that he deserved. With the way that Ruiz was working Joshua over with combinations, there’s a strong possibility the rematch will play out in the same way. Joshua isn’t changing the variables that led to him losing. He still has the same trainer Rob McCracken, and he still appears to be over-muscled.
Joshua: I had nothing to gain fighting Ruiz
“In the build up, things were as they should have been,” said Joshua to JD Sport. “Training is like a lifestyle for me. I never have an issue with preparation. It seemed like this was already written in the stars. My purpose for the fight was I might fight [Deontay] Wilder next. The purpose for the fight is what is he doing next? It wasn’t solely on winning the fight. There was no pressure, and no gain,” said Joshua in commenting on how he had nothing to gain by fighting Ruiz. “There’s no gain for me. I’m in America. I’m not being forced to go there. It’s not a mandatory. I’ve just gone there because I want to do big things in boxing.
Even though I lost the fight, it’s still a massive moment in my career. For this fight, what it meant, there was no real gain in it. Beating Ruiz, it wouldn’t have meant as much to me as it’ll mean for me to train for the rematch. I was just so relaxed. I know what I’m capable of doing. Everything it meant to Ruiz winning, it didn’t mean to me beating him. He can’t keep up with my feet,” said Joshua in talking about what was going through his mind in the first round against Ruiz.
Joshua found it difficult to get motivated for the Ruiz fight last June. No one was giving Ruiz a chance to win, and the wants wanted Joshua to fight Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury.
Joshua says he was in the shutdown mode
“I had to setup my shots where everything I throw out, I’m ready to defend,” said Joshua. “It humbles the fighter that’s trying to humble you. In the second round, I heard the crowd booing. The week before, [Deontay] Wilder knocked out [Dominic] Breazeale in the first round. I’m fighting six weeks after. Let’s go handle business. I mean, I didn’t want to let people down. I could cruise this fight. In six rounds, the beef wasn’t cooked yet. The beef was still being seasoned. The first left hook caught me on the chin [from Ruiz], which was fine. And then the one that gone under, it caught me behind the head. That’s when all systems kind of shut off.
At the same time, it’s boxing. You’ve got to know how to ride the punch or you’re going to suffer the consequences. From hat point onward, it was really difficult for me to get back into the fight. The fight I need to fight to beat Ruiz, I should be switched on 100%. That shot I’d taken, it switched off part of my system. I knew I was fighting at 80%, and I knew it was going to be an uphill struggle. Mentally, I knew I had to keep myself into the fight, and not try and overexert myself,” said Joshua.
It’s easy for Joshua to blame his seventh round knockout loss on being hurt in the third round by a left hook from. That might not the true reason why Joshua lost. For all intents and purposes, it looked like Joshua gassed out after the third, and had nothing left. Joshua was fighting on fumes from rounds three to seven.
Joshua wanted Wilder, not Ruiz
“I’ve been hit before by other fighters where it’s been a bit of a slug-fest. but I’ve remembered after the fight with [Wladimir] Klitshko, I said, ‘I never want to be in a slug-fest again, because I know how much better I can be,” said Joshua. “And I found myself in this situation again, and now it’s how do I try and climb out of this battle again, which is battle I shouldn’t have been in against a guy like Ruiz. When all your body is pumped around your body, your heart rate is high, the event is really coming in and boring in on you. All the pressure starts to come together, and you start really realizing every aspect of your training.
If I had come out with the same tenacity here that I did in the first round, I’m now three to four steps behind trying to catch up. But my engines fired. If I had been at the starting line with the same engine, as soon as he bell sounded, I would have been three or four steps ahead. But I didn’t have that. I didn’t want to be in the ring with Ruiz. Let’s talk Wilder and [Tyson] Fury. Let’s talk about the undisputed fight, not about Ruiz. Now I’m on my job to become a two-time heavyweight champion of the world,” said Joshua.
Joshua talking in ‘what if’ terms sounds a little pathetic, because he needs to deal with reality of what happened. Yeah, if he hadn’t gassed out in the third, he might have been able to fight hard in the sixth and seventh to avoid getting knocked out. If Joshua is going to play ‘what if,’ then he needs to go a lot deeper. What if he had gotten a different trainer?
AJ dreams of what he could have done to Ruiz
“I need to get these titles back. I don’t know where I am,” said Joshua. “This is instinct,” said Joshua in talking about being hurt in the seventh round by Ruiz. “I’m on autopilot, but its cool.” At this point, Joshua clearly is starting to get worked up in looking at how Ruiz was blasting him around the ring like a rag-doll. “I don’t know where I am, but all I know is I’m in a fight, and I’ve been here before. Every time he knocks me down, I get back up. It wasn’t a problem where I’m flat on my back an he’s hitting me. He hit me with a shot that I just couldn’t recover from.
I’m like just staying in there and continuing to fight. I’m staying in there, but my body was at 40%. I wasn’t even in a position where I could take him out. I was just staying in there and continuing to trade. That’s what baffles me. After the third round, if Ruiz was in the same position I was, how I felt in the third round, he wouldn’t have made it to the fifth. It took him seven rounds. That’s what baffles me. I already had what I needed mentally to fight Klitschko. I’ve gained more attention and meaning from losing than I would have by winning against this guy [Ruiz]. I was hit on the side of the head. I was thinking, ‘Nah, man, it was too much of an uphill struggle at the time,'” said Joshua.
Joshua doesn’t agree with the referee’s decision to stop the fight in the seventh, because he says he would kept getting back up each time Ruiz would drop him. However, Joshua had already been knocked down twice in the seventh round.
Joshua says, “I need to unleash the beast”
“How I look at it, ‘I’ve taken L’s, and I know I can fight. I know I’ll beat most of the top heavyweights,” said Joshua. “Until the day I stop is the day they shouldn’t fear me. Until then, just know I’m knocking on everybody’s door, and I’m coming. I’ve done it once. I can do it again. I’ve won, I’ve unified the division twice, and become heavyweight champion.
I’ve been put on my back, and lost. I’m an experienced fighter. So I feel like I’ve got more to gain. I never fear of losing. Every-time I fight now, it’s always going to be on the line. It’s deeper than Ruiz. I need to take everything I’ve learned. I need to unleash the beast. If I would have won, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” said Joshua about the Ruiz fight,” said Joshua.
Joshua sounds conflicted in talking about which game plan he intends on using for the rematch. On one hand, Joshua says he doesn’t want to get caught in anymore slug-fests with Ruiz. But on the other hand, he’s talking about unleashing “the beast” against Ruiz Jr. That sounds a lot like Joshua intends on going to war with Ruiz to try and beat him at his own game by slugging. If Joshua does that, he’ll be repeating the same mistake he made in his first fight with Ruiz.