I wasn't particularly building him up, just pointing to the trend that shows becoming heavy weight champion and remaining undefeated is extremely rare.
I don't think anybody will be undefeated champion in next few years not the heavyweight division of yesterday years to much politics stopping mega fights....
I wasn't criticising at all Jay...quite the opposite, most fighters only hold onto the titles for a few fights, it's a tough ask....Marciano's record of 49-0 may probably never be beaten, but his actual title record doesn't look as great as the record might suggest, his defences were against old men or blown up lightweights with the exception of La Starza...who he had beaten before.
Hearn is apparently planning a re-match to take place in London in either November or December 2019. Didn't unfortunately see the full fight, just the highlights on ITV. It was no fluke that's for sure. Ruiz tagged him good and proper.
Lots of interesting comments on this. Always find it strange that AJ does have a hate brigade considering how respectful and dedicated he is. But to clarify a few things: - Lots of folk shocked that Ruiz put up a good fight. He was a tough opponent than the original Miller, he only lost five amateur fights winning 100, notoriously fast hands for a heavyweight, and didn’t deserve to lose to Parker for me - Those saying ‘maybe now Hearn will negotiate’. It’s all politics and bullsh*t from all of the big three. But AJ and Hearn have been the only ones actually saying they really want those fights and they want them next. Wilder is the worst of the three by a country mile, but Tyson signing the ESPN deal to fight Schwartz as a huge swerve - AJ’s boxing ability is better than he’s getting credit for on this thread. Cruise control for the first 2 rounds and one minute, superb combination to put Ruiz down for the first time in his career, and then that random show to the top of the head just scrambled him. Never recovered, but only got hit clean maybe twice which makes the four knockdowns bizarre. The knockdown that finished the fight didn’t even include a punch really, and came directly after Ruiz buckled from an AJ shot - There’s a story to be told about the fight. Something isn’t right and too many things to be deciphered. AJ’s Dad, the trainer, Hearn, the late ring walk, the random questions between rounds, the cut and bruising on his left eye, the demeanour. Very strange - David Price comparisons are on the money. He’s been stopped on his feet three, maybe four, times. Just loses all his energy the minute he gets hit rather than being chinny - Wilder and Whyte will be upset right now. They priced themselves out, didn’t back their future potential on the back of beating AJ, and now Ruiz is in line to make another £8 million in a rematch he’ll fancy himself to win. It’s boxing nights like that that make people crave a talented and fearless heavyweight division.
My own opinion is it’s the first time he’s had VADA testing & **** himself when Miller got popped. Big 6’6 18 stone blokes shouldn’t be able to fight at a high pace. To me gassing like David Price does is normal when you’re that size. Miller & Fury have both been done for PEDS, Vitali did. Wlad never got done for them but went from gassing in the middle rounds to all of a sudden been able to fight at a fast pace for 12 rounds. Which leaves Joshua who put on a stone of muscle between winning the Olympics & turning pro yet improved his stamina & has kept outworking smaller & lighter opponents until the first time he’s fought abroad & had VADA testing & is completely knackered after 7 rounds. We’ll see what happens but I reckon it’ll be UK only from now on
Reckon he got concussed with a shot in the third round and that’s why by the 6th? Round he was asking his corner “why am I feeling like this” Nothing against Ruiz though he was amazing, fantastic speed of hands and feet for a big lad and he’s sorted for life now with the rematch money he’ll get.
It's the old saying about being huge, being lean, and being natural. You only get to pick 2 and he's apparently all 3. But then again I think the number of top level sportsmen who are 100% clean is very small.
They’re actually saying Vegas and LA are the front runners. Regarding Wlad, he reduced his pace significantly when he got Emanuel Steward on board and resurrected his career. Jab, jab hold become his safety first style of fighting and allowed him to rule the division for a decade or so. He tried to trade against Joshua and came a cropper, and Fury just completely bamboozled him. Think there’s way more pressing issues around this fight to be resolved away from VADA testing. He’s only been 12 rounds once remember so hardly lots of evidence to say he’s improved his stamina to outwork smaller fighters. He’s usually outworked them by ramming the right hand in their face and backing them off.
Agree. I think it’s rife everywhere. Last week Kante apparently had no chance of playing the Europa League final & the next thing he’s having an injection & been the most energetic player on the pitch. If that’s a cyclist or a distance runner there’d be non-stop questions asking what’s going off.
Huge rematch for AJ, if he were to lose again I'm not sure where he would go next. The huge pay days would likely be over and it's a question of if he would be willing to fight for so little having earnt so much.
Ruiz uses the " F" word himself, in an article in today's paper. It says his preparation for probably one of the biggest fights of his career thus far, was a world away from that of AJ's. The latter has twenty four staff monitoring his every move, whilst Ruiz trains in a back street gym with three coaches and has a sponsorship deal with Snickers. Ruiz once weighed 21 stones but still had a solid record with 32 wins and 1 loss with 21 of those being KO's. He was stung by fat shaming comments which prompted him to shed some of his bulk, but still refers to himself as " the little fat kid" adding " oh yes, that has grown up to become the heavyweight Champion of the world." You can't argue with that.
Ruiz now saying he would like the rematch in Mexcio, maybe the start of making negotiations hard to try and get out of it. Al Haymon would love to get him in with Wilder.