By Scott Gilfoid: Like many boxing fans, Deontay Wilder didn’t like what he saw of Anthony Joshua in his safety-first performance against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. last Saturday night in beating him by a lackluster 12 round unanimous decision in Saudi Arabia.
Deontay, who is one of the most exciting fighters in boxing, was really put off at the low standards that Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) stooped to in beating an overweight 283 lb Ruiz Jr. (33-2, 22 KOs) in front of a large crowd of 15,000 people at the Diriyah Arena, in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
Deontay Wilder disgusted with Joshua’s performance
“Joshua did what he had to do to get the win. He ran around the ring and was on his bike all day,” said Wilder to @TheAthleticBox.
This was a huge event, and the Saudis wanted the Joshua vs. Ruiz fight to be staged in their country. They obviously were hoping it would be an exciting fight from start to finish. Instead, Joshua fought like Wladimir Klischko for 12 rounds, taking no chances to entertain, and looking like he was interested in doing the minimum.
Joshua’s non-effort on the big stage in Saudi
If Joshua’s boxing fans expected Deontay to smother him with love after a performance like that, then they’re obviously misguided. Deontay fights in a completely different way. He has fans on the edge of their seats each time he fights, as they never know when he’s going to use his ERASER to crush his opponents. Wilder wants to make it exciting for his fans, and for that reason he doesn’t fight in a safety first style that we saw from Joshua.
Fighting the way Joshua did against Ruiz, it’s going to cause a lot of boxing fans to jump ship, looking for more entertaining fighters like Deontay. Joshua fought like a combination of Wladimir Klitschko and Chris Byrd against Ruiz.
In this era, boxing fans expect more from fighters. With the competition from MMA for eyeballs, it’s important for fighters to make it as exciting as possible in boxing. Joshua’s sleep inducing effort against Ruiz was below what is needed to keep fans interested in Gilfoid’s estimation.
Joshua’s Klitschko-esque jab & grab performance not up to Deontay’s standards
Wilder feels that if he lost to someone like Ruiz, he would have gone after him in the rematch. He wouldn’t have run and held him for 12 rounds like Joshua did, and that’s a given.
“I’m not coming in, after losing to this guy, to just dance, grab, jab, hold. How can no-one say I’m not the best in the world now?” said Wilder.
So there it is. Wilder telling fans that he’s a different type of fighter than Joshua in terms of his willingness to look spectacular no matter what.
If Joshua plans on continuing to fight with the Klitschko 2.0 style that we saw from him against Ruiz last Saturday, it’s going to make it hard for him to be viewed by fans as being worthy of being at the top perch in the heavyweight division.
When you compare how sensational Deontay looked in his last two fights against Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz and Dominic Breazeale to Joshua’s holding and running style against Ruz, it’s two fighters from different spectrums.