Boxing: Anthony Joshua will bounce back, Andy Ruiz declares
Andy Ruiz Jr. believes it is not over for Anthony Joshua in spite of his recent loss to Oleksandr Usyk in London.
Joshua didn’t use movement or holding to tie up Usyk, as he’d done against Ruiz Jr. in their rematch in December 2019.
That was a fight in which Joshua took back his IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight titles with a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision.
Andy believes Joshua will come back from the loss and still be a significant player in the division.
The former IBF/WBA/WBO champion Ruiz Jr. is coming off knee surgery for a torn meniscus. He says he’ll be back inside the ring in December against possibly Charles Martin or Adam Kownacki.
The 32-year-old Ruiz Jr. wants to get a win over Martin or Kownacki and then face former two-time world title challenger Luis Ortiz to get him a title shot.
“It surprised me because when I did an interview with ESPN, I thought Anthony was going to be the stronger man, and I thought he was going to box him around and use his abilities,” said Andy Ruiz Jr. to Fighthype on Anthony Joshua’s defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
read also:Former Juve coach Pirlo tops Barcelona’s agenda to replace Koeman
“He [Joshua] just stayed there; he wasn’t moving around and doing the same thing with me in the second fight with me. He ran around to make sure he didn’t get hit, and if he did, he would grab and move around. So he had a strategy. But for this fight [with Usyk], it didn’t go his way.
“It’s crazy because I thought Anthony Joshua was going to beat Usyk. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a 50-50 fight between Fury and Wilder. That’s going to be a really exciting fight. I’m going to be there,” said Ruiz Jr.
Joshua’s loss to Usyk surprised many people because they felt that he had the physical skills to win this fight if he’d only used them. Even Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn seemed nonplussed in trying to make sense of his loss.
Hearn wanted Joshua to employ his size & power and steamroll the smaller Usyk, but he wouldn’t do it.
When Joshua had a chance to throw uppercuts and rough Usyk up when they were in close, he did nothing. It looked like Joshua showed Usyk too much respect and didn’t want to go all out on him.
When Joshua did land shots to the head and body, you could see that he was hurting Usyk. The body shots that Joshua hit Usyk with visibly affected him.