By Charles Brun: Lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is giving Anthony Joshua no chance of beating Andy Ruiz Jr. in their rematch on December 7 in Saudi Arabia. Speaking to First Take, Fury (28-0-1, 20 KOs) said he’s one million percent certain that Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs) stops Joshua a second time, and finishes his career in the process. Fury has serious doubts whether Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) can make any improvements in his game for him to come out the winner in the rematch.
Two months ago, the huge underdog Ruiz knocked Joshua out in the seventh round on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The odds-makers and boxing fans alike wrote off the chubby-looking Ruiz, who was brought in on two weeks’ notice to replace American Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller.
When Ruiz weighed in at a hefty 268 pounds at the weigh-in the day before the fight with Joshua, this further led fans in giving him no shot at winning.
Fury: It’s “game over” for Joshua if he loses rematch with Ruiz
“You can never assume anything in heavyweight boxing, but you’re only as good as your last fight,” said Fury to First Take about Joshua. “All the fights that Joshua won, and all the momentum that he gained, and popularity and publicity and how he was the next best thing since sliced bread, and he’s one of the greatest of all time. People saying all these outrageous comment. Then he gets knocked out in a fight, and then all of a sudden nobody is talking about him anymore. It’s like, ‘Oh, maybe he can do a rematch or maybe can’t.’
I think it’s typical stereotypical boxing. It happened a lot over the years. But when someone’s bubble has been burst, as it has with him, it’s quite hard to come back from. Without being too harsh on him, if he gets knocked out again in the rematch, it’s game over for him,” said Fury about Joshua.
It might not be the end of Joshua’s career if he gets knocked out by Ruiz again, but it’s definitely going to make a serious negative impression on the boxing public. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn will look to rebuild Joshua on a diet of soft jobs, but it might not bring his fans back.
Shine a light on those who once shone ✨ https://t.co/KgmeWt0SSo
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyfjoshua) August 14, 2019
Fury says it’s only “fitting” that he dumps on Joshua now
“I’m a big believer in not kicking someone when they’re down, because I’ve been down myself, and I know what it feels like. It’s terrible,” said Fury. “But if it was me that would have lost to Ruiz, everybody would have written me off and destroyed me. So it’s only fitting that I did the same to him [Joshua]. What do I really think he’s about? I’m not sure. He’s been very successful in his career. e’s been heavyweight champion of the world. He made title defenses, and he made a lot of money out of boxing.
He’s what you call a success at the game. But is he a true real fighter? He showed it against [Wladimir] Klitschko, but he went missing against Ruiz. So, a man gets up off the floor from being knocked down to fight on. He got hurt and came back. Real champions can get off the floor and win, but we didn’t see that in the Ruiz fight. When he went down and got back up, he didn’t look like he wanted to be there. I’m a big believer in that when one door closes, another one opens. It was all about Joshua and the time when he was fighting Ruiz,” said Fury.
Joshua got up off the canvas after being knocked down by Wladimir Klitschko, and came back to win the fight. However, that was against an old, inactive Klitschko, who wasn’t following directions from his trainer Johnathon Banks or his brother. They wanted Wladimir to finish Joshua after he knocked him down in the sixth. Wladimir had his own ideas, and thought he could win a decision. He wasn’t thinking obviously, and it cost him the fight.
Ruiz Jr. will KO Joshua again says Fury
“Nobody gave Ruiz prayer. Now it’s about Ruiz. I believe Ruiz does the exact same thing the second time around [against Joshua], and then he takes his place as the three-headed monster,” said Fury in predicting that Ruiz Jr. knockout Joshua in the rematch on December 7th in Saudi Arabia. “One million percent,” said Fury when asked if Ruiz Jr. stops Joshua again. “I thought Ruiz won every round in that fight. It wasn’t a fluke punch like Hasim Rahman against Lennox Lewis, and then in the rematch Lewis turned up and knocked him out. He [Joshua] clearly lost the rounds. He was getting out-boxed, and he was getting out-fought. Additionally, he got knocked down three times to boot.
Joshua, 29, is likely going to try and out-box Ruiz in the rematch, but if that doesn’t work, he’ll revert to slugging. As Fury states, Joshua’s best chance of winning the fight is if he can catch Ruiz with a big shot. Joshua knocked Ruiz down in the third round with a hard left hook. If Joshua had been able to connect with another big left, he might have done the job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAoucMEaFMY
Fury doubts Joshua can improve enough to beat Ruiz
“I don’t see him really improving unless he comes out on his toes and tries to do a Tyson Fury, and slip out of the way, which he doesn’t have the body type or the boxing skills [to do],” said Fury analyzing Joshua’s chances in rematch with Ruiz. “I don’t think so. The only prayer that Joshua has got of beating Ruiz is catching him like he did when he knocked him down [in round three], and jumping on him and getting him out of there. We’ve seen it happen before. No one is invincible. It only takes one punch in the heavyweight division. But if he [Joshua] doesn’t land that punch early on in the fight, I don’t think he wins. I think Ruiz wins again,” said Fury.
It’s all about Joshua keeping his distance from Ruiz Jr. in the rematch, and to make sure that he prevents the American from getting close. Ruiz Jr. needs to be in range to land his combinations, because he stands little chance of winning if Joshua is on the outside. The 6’6″ Joshua has a four inch height, and a 10 inch reach advantage over the 6’2″ Ruiz Jr. For Joshua to get the ‘W’ in the rematch, he needs to keep Ruiz at bay. Joshua did a good job of keeping Joseph Parker on the outside in their fight last year.