By Charles Brun: Former unified heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr says Oleksandr Usyk can defeat Anthony Joshua in their rematch on August 20th if he doesn’t make the same mistakes that he did when he failed to train hard for his second fight against AJ.
2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk isn’t the type of person to slack off and pig out the way Ruiz did for his rematch with Joshua. In other words, you’re not going to see an obese Usyk climb into the ring on the night he meets with Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) for their rematch on August 20th at Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia.
Ruiz (34-2, 22 KOs), who came in as a replacement opponent on three weeks’ notice, wiped the deck with Joshua, knocking him down four times en route to scoring a seventh-round knockout in June 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
For the first fight with Joshua, Ruiz was in good shape for him, weighing 268 lbs, possessing power and fantastic hand speed for a big guy.
However, Ruiz lived it up, partying, eating, and not taking his training seriously for his rematch with Joshua in December 2019, and he wound up losing by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision.
Ruiz shockingly came into the second fight weighing 283 lbs and looking like he’d made little effort at training for the rematch.
You can argue that Ruiz was too busy basking in the glow of his upset win over Joshua to get back in the gym to train hard for the second.
What’s interesting is that Ruiz chose to dump his trainer Manny Robles after his loss to Joshua and go with Canelo’s coach Eddy Reynoso.
It was a strange move because Robles wasn’t why Ruiz lost the second fight with AJ. Ruiz is no longer with Reynoso, and it’s his new trainer won’t last long if he loses or struggles to beat 43-year-old Luis Ortiz in their fight on September 4th on Fox Sports PPV at the Crypto Arena in Los Angeles.
“If Usyk doesn’t do the same thing I did [Oleksandr can defeat Joshua again], I’m sure he doesn’t because he’s been on top of the game at cruiserweight and became undisputed,” Andy Ruiz said to ID Boxing about his belief Oleksandr Usyk can defeat Anthony Joshua in their rematch.
Usyk can beat Joshua even if he doesn’t take training camp seriously for the rematch because he’s a much better fighter and has the mobility, stamina & boxing IQ to win no matter how many times they fight.
“I think it could go either way. I know Anthony Joshua has a new trainer in Robert Garcia; he’s over there trying to show him the Mexican style to be aggressive, throw a lot of punches, to be first, to come at him,” said Ruiz.
“Usyk is an awkward fighter; he’s an awkward lefty fighter, so it’s why we picked a lefty as well in case we have to go through Usyk,” said Ruiz.
