By Dan Ambrose: Andy Ruiz Jr. hinted this week that he believes Oleksandr Usyk will defeat Anthony Joshua in their rematch on Saturday night in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Ruiz says he’d like to fight Usyk after he defeats Luis Ortiz on September 4th.
There’s also the possibility that Ruiz could face Deontay Wilder in a final WBC eliminator after Ortiz. But if that fight doesn’t happen, Ruiz says he wants Usyk next.
“Anthony Joshua goes down and comes back up, or he loses, and he fights again to win,” said Andy Ruiz Jr to Fight Hub TV. “Usyk is a hard guy too. His style, he throws combinations.
“When I win on September 4th against Luis Ortiz, you never know. If Wilder doesn’t make the fight, we could look for Usyk,” said Ruiz.
“Joshua has a chance, and he has Robert Garcia. You can’t change a fighter in one training camp,” said Shawn Porter to Fight Hub TV. “I don’t know how long they’ve been training together, but I do believe Robert Garcia is the X-factor in terms of getting Anthony Joshua to throw more punches and up his pace.
“I think with a faster pace and more aggression, that is the key to beating Usyk for Anthony Joshua. I don’t see Anthony Joshua being able to catch Usyk. I think if he does beat him, it has to be by knockout. I would side with Usyk.
“You have to prepare. That’s part of the training,” said Porter when told that if Joshua throws more punches, he’s going to gas out quicker. I think there’s a misconception where people think because he’s got muscles he fatigues because of his muscles.
“If he trains and gets those red blood cells to multiply, I’m getting into a whole another thing, but he oxygenates those muscles better in training, and that carries over to the fight, he can have a higher pace.
“Don’t get it twisted and think because of the weight that he is or because he’s got the muscle mass that he has that’s going to cause him to fatigue if he throws more punches.
“If throwing more punches is what it takes to beat Usyk, then you have to do whatever you have to do to prepare to throw more punches. It can be done. Back in the day, they said, ‘Don’t lift weights because it slows you down.’
“It does tighten your muscles. So let me say it does. But there are things that you can do to work out all that blood that you pushed up in there to work it out. You do massage or other exercises and all those types of things.
“You don’t lift every day, but you have to incorporate a strength and & conditioning program. The conditioning side of it is how you get the strength to work.
“We’re seeing more fighters getting strength & conditioning programs going, and we’re seeing it’s very beneficial to fighters,” said Porter.
