By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony Joshua needs to make it “BORING” by holding, moving and jabbing for 12 rounds to beat Andy Ruiz Jr., says Dillian Whyte. He thinks that’s the best style to beat IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Ruiz Jr (33-1, 22 KOs) in his rematch with Joshua on December 7th, and he says would use that approach if he were to face the American.
RUNNING won’t work for Joshua – he already tried that against Ruiz
Joshua was on his bike after getting bulldozed to the canvas TWICE by Ruiz in round 3 last June, and his movement didn’t work Ruiz was able to cut off the ring with ease to force Joshua to slug with him. Ruiz is just too good at cutting off the ring for Joshua to be able to use Whyte’s ugly spoiling advice for the rematch.
The problem is, Joshua moves like a big robot, whether he’s at 220 or the 250s. He’s never moved well, and he never well. It’s like asking a distance runner to compete against a 100 meter sprinter. They’re never going to beat them.
If Joshua tries to run from Ruiz, he’s going to get tracked down, and beaten. Running from the battlefield with a white flag trailing behind Joshua’s backside won’t help him avoid the inevitable against Ruiz on December 7.
Whyte doesn’t care that Joshua would bore boxing fans if he elects to follow his gawdawful game plan of spoiling for 12 rounds. The only thing Dillian cares about is Joshua winning the fight, because he wants to face him in a rematch with him the IBF/WBA/WBO champion. Whyte was knocked out in the 7th round by Joshua in 2015.
That Joshua-Whyte fight was competitive for all of one round. Joshua batted Whyte around the ring from round 2 until 7. For a lot of boxing fans, there’s no point in Joshua giving Whyte a rematch, because the fight wasn’t competitive enough to rate a rematch. Besides, Whyte has been involved in 4 controversial matches since then against Joseph Parker, Dereck Chisora, and Oscar Rivas.
Joshua will lose fans if he runs and holds all night against Ruiz
It would look bad on Joshua’s part if he chooses to fight in the Wladimir Klitschko style against Ruiz, because there are a lot of boxing fans that will be watching the match worldwide. Fans were turned off by the boring performance Joshua put in against Joseph Parker in March 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Joshua did little more than hold, jab and move for 12 round.
The referee working the fight was literally pulling Parker away from Joshua when he would work his way into punching range. He was getting in between Parker and Joshua and fouling things up royally. It was one of the worst, and also one of the strangest fights that Gilfoid has ever seen.
Whyte: Joshua needs to make it BORING against Ruiz to beat him
“I’d just jab him. Early doors, I’d just jab him,” said Whyte when asked how he’d beat Ruiz. “I’d just jab him, move around, and jab him and move around. What Joshua needs to do is drag the fight out. Use his feet, and use his range to drag the fight out. Get his jab going, and hold him as well.
“Holding is part of your defense as well. It’s hard to use your feet all the time. Get his jab going, hold him, make it a boring fight, and then clip him on his way. He’s going to have a lot of fire in his belly. Get that out of him. That’s like when I fought Dereck [Chisora].
That’s so sad that Whyte is advising Joshua to spoil against Ruiz. What happened to the warrior mentality that Whyte used to possess? Did Osar Rivas knock it out of him last July in their fight at the O2 Arena? That’s a match that Whyte was lucky to have won, because he was hurt in the 12th by a body shot from Rivas. If the referee hadn’t made a mistake in thinking it was a low blow, there’s a good chance Rivas would finished Whyte.
Dillian explains why Joshua should SPOIL against Andy
“When I hurt him in the first round, my instincts were to go in and kill him,” said Whyte in talking about his rematch with Dereck Chisora. “But in my mind, I said, ‘Dereck is a tough guy. He’s not ready yet.’ Hes’ the kind of guy that you need to drag him out, and set him up later in the fight.
“You need to buy your time with certain fighters, and break them down and play different psychological games, and give them different looks, range and height throughout the fight. I think that’s what he needs to do,” said Whyte.
It would be better for Joshua to ignore Whyte’s advice to spoil, and choose to fight bravely, and beat Ruiz by making it an exciting fight. I know Joshua will never be a talent like Deontay Wilder, but he at least can strive to follow in his giant footsteps, can’t he?
Dillian’s second fight with Chisora in December 2018 was even more controversial than his first fight. That was a fight in which Whyte was losing, but the referee inserted himself into the equation by twice deducting points from Chisora in rounds 8 and 11. Whyte was roughing up Chisora, but the referee take points away from him.
Chisora likely would have beaten Whyte had the referee chosen not to take points away from him. In the larger picture, if Whyte can’t even beat Chisora, who is a glorified journeyman, what does that say about him? Those fights showed the level Whyte is at. Yeah, he’s popular in the UK, but then again, so are guys like David Allen and David Price. You get the picture.
Whyte hoping Joshua beats Ruiz
I don’t know, man,” said Whyte when asked who wins Joshua vs. Ruiz 2 rematch. “I hope Joshua gets over what happened, and put the things he said wrong right. And I hope he can move on from what happened in June and win. I want him to win, because it’s good for me, it’s good for him, and it’s better for British boxing.
“It’s been a long time that British boxing has had so many heavyweights at the top,” said Whyte. “I really do hope he [Joshua] wins. Andy Ruiz showed you things in the fight. He showed ability, and hand speed. And he had very good hand-eye coordination, and he was doing little things in the fight, settling little things up,” said Whyte.
It obviously helps Whyte if Joshua beats Ruiz, recaptures his IBF, WBA & WBO straps, but that doesn’t mean Dillian is going to benefit. If Whyte could still wind up suspended by UKAD when they eventually release the results of his B-sample drug test one of these days.
It’s highly unlikely Joshua will agree to fight Whyte before his B-sample results are revealed, because there would be too much of a backlash if he were to take that fight right now.
Whyte is fighting 39-year-old Mariusz Wach on the Joshua-Ruiz 2 undercard, but that old guy isn’t a world ranked contender. The 6’7” Wach is a 2nd tier fighter, who has been brought in for Whyte to fight in a showcase match on the card.
The casual British boxing fans just want to see Whyte fight. They care whether he’s in with a good fighter or not. Obviously, it would be better for Whyte if he fought a talented contender, but he’s not going to do that are his close call against Rivas last July.
Joshua losing to Ruiz doesn’t bother Whyte: He wants rematch with AJ anyway
“Win, lose or draw, I still want a rematch,” said Whyte about wanting a second fight against Joshua,” said Whyte.
What Whyte doesn’t understand is Joshua likely won’t fight him if he loses the rematch against Ruiz on December 7th. The reason for that is his promoter Eddie Hearn is going to go into the panic mode, and will be looking to rebuild his sagging career. He won’t want to put Joshua in Whyte after 2 consecutive losses to Ruiz.
It’s doubtful that Hearn will make that fight unless things are looking really bleak for Joshua with his career about to implode. Once it’s critical stage, Hearn will likely push the nuclear button and put Joshua in with Whyte, and watch what happens. However, an over-the-hill Joshua would probably make easy work against Whyte.