Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr, go into battle tonight and current and retired heavyweight boxers have weighed in with their thoughts. ...
Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr, go into battle tonight and current and retired heavyweight boxers have weighed in with their thoughts.
Deontay Wilder
Wilder said: “I really believe Andy’s gonna go in there and
do it again. When I look at the first fight and I see certain things as a
fighter, a lot of red flags that alert me. And if that same mindset and
momentum goes into the second fight, Andy Ruiz is going to win that easily.
“I’d prefer him to win because we’re in the same stable.
When he wins we have the opportunity to unify the division. If Joshua wins, I
don’t think that’s gonna be.
“He got knocked down four times, and then he quit. That is
huge for me. On the outside looking in, to see how that fight occurred and
everything that was going on, I think he’s going to be fighting his demons
inside of that ring, not just Ruiz.
“I know he’s trying to cancel out a lot of things in his
mind, especially, including me, his biggest and ultimate rival.
I think Ruiz has the momentum to go in and do it again. It
definitely was a big confidence builder and a booster for him to win that first
one, especially after getting put on his ass and getting back up and then to
put Joshua down four times. It changed his life.
“But coming [out with a win] in the rematch can change his
life forever. And for those reasons, I’m leaning towards Ruiz.
Tyson Fury
Tyson, a British
boxer like Joshua, said on the True Geordie Podcast “Andy Ruiz is a little fat
pig, comes in on three weeks’ notice, murdered every donut and taco in
California and then goes in with a man who’s had a 12-week training camp with
every sports scientist in the United Kingdom.
“But the little fat fella goes in there and bowls him over
in seven rounds…I see it going pretty much similar to the first fight.
“I know that they've both lost weight, they’ve had more
time to prepare, they’ve changed a few things in their training teams and all
that.
“They’ll have different approaches and they’ll try
different game plans, but Mike Tyson said it: ‘Everyone’s got a great game plan
until thy get punched in the face.’
“You can be working on something for ages, you work on it,
work on it, work on it, and you get tagged and that’s it. You go back to how you once was and you wanna fight.
“They’re both big strong men and they both can knock each
other out, but he beat him once and knocked him out, so he’s got a mental edge
going into that rematch.
“You’re going into that mentally beaten already because you’ve
already been knocked out…
“Everybody has a bogeyman in their career. Whether you find
him or not, everybody’s got one. I think personally he may be the bogeyman for
him, who knows?”
Mike Tyson
“I don’t know [what will happen in the rematch] because
anything is possible. They’re both great human beings, I like both of them
personally, but this is a fight and I just hope the best man wins.
“It doesn’t matter about your style, your technique, or
size, it’s the morality in the fight. You can have this [good] technique but if
you’ve got no zest, no morality, no guts, you’re nothing. Your style means
nothing. It’s all about morality, the desire and the will.”
Dillian Whyte
Whyte, promoted by Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn, said: “I think it’s a great fight just like
the first one was.
“Everyone was overlooking Andy Ruiz in the first fight,
even I thought Joshua was gonna knock Ruiz out in six rounds… The great thing
is he has a chance to put everything that was wrong right.
“He’s British, he’s my competitor and he’s my rival, I’m
gonna back him. Hopefully he wins and I want him to win.
“It’s good for British boxing, he’s done a lot for British
boxing, he’s unified the division and all that. “He’s a young man just like me,
he’s doing well and he’s doing his thing. Hopefully he does win.
“I think he should just do what he normally does, but just
work on his jab a bit more. He doesn’t need to go out there and start trying to
move and do this, he’s never done that before and I think if he does that he
will gas.
“Being on the back foot, Joshua’s not a good back-foot
fighter, he’s a come-forward fighter and he’s quite forceful.
“His power and his size and his physical condition is what
usually wears a lot of these guys down you know.”
He added: “I want to see him [Joshua] succeed and he
definitely wants to see me succeed as well, definitely. We’re both young guys
doing well, who have come from nothing.”
Lennox Lewis
Lewis said: “If they don’t fix what is wrong with Joshua,
Ruiz Jr wins that fight hands down. It must be mental as he didn’t look the
same coming to the ring as he usually looked.
“Hopefully it will come out in the future. Joshua made it
easy for Ruiz Jr because he wasn’t fully there.”
David Haye
“Questions have been asked over whether Anthony Joshua has
had enough time between the two fights with Andy Ruiz Jr to make the
improvements needed to win the rematch.
“Judging by his performance back in June, AJ has had plenty
to work on, but I believe he has had time on his side. A fighter can change
significantly during a 12-week training camp. In fact, it has been much longer
than that as this fight would have dominated the thinking of Joshua since the
summer.
“Anthony would have been thinking non-stop about the
rematch, about what he could have done better first time out, if given the
opportunity. We will see the fruits of that hard work on Saturday. Word around
the campfire is that AJ has lost a lot of muscle bulk and is looking at
throwing significantly more punches.
“He has also been working on tightening up his defence and
that should be much better than it was in New York. Joshua is going to be
switched on and as prepared as we have ever seen him for a fight. I’m certainly
looking forward to seeing this new and improved version of Anthony.
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