On his preparations:
“It’s been about being confident, about knowing my capabilities. I’ve had a great training camp, I am well prepared, and ready to showcase my skills.”
On what change we will see Saturday night:
“I’m forever changing, that’s what training camp is about, evolution, like night and day. I shed the skin from last time, re-built myself, and all I’m doing is going to win, that’s what I’m focused on.”
On looking to have more speed in this fight:
“I’m quick anyway. I’m not looking for anything except the win, that’s the objective. It’s about speed, it’s not about nothing else, the objective is just to win, win, win.”
On how much Andy Ruiz had been on his mind since the first fight:
“He’s been on my mind five weeks prior to June 1 because that’s when he came in as my replacement, and he will be on my mind forever. If Andy Ruiz is dedicated to the game we will see each other a third time down the line as well. This won’t be the last time I see Andy Ruiz in the ring.”
On a third match with Andy Ruiz:
“Yes because I think we make for good fights. I think there will definitely be a knockout, and people want to see bloodshed and a knockout. I think we will see each other a third time.”
On getting the victory:
“If God calls it that’s what’s going to happen. I feel it in my heart, and believe in myself, so yeah I’ll be victorious. Shout out to all of my sparring partners for preparing me. You are going to see fireworks on Saturday. This is an important fight and like I said, this fight isn’t going 12 rounds.”
AJ wins within 6. there I called it!
agreed
AJ TKO 10
Ruiz will try to cut the ring in hopes to duplicate the shot behind the ear that crippled AJ. AJ needs to keep Ruiz at the end of his jab and everything will fall I to place.
He was supposed to win easy and impressive on his American debut, now is his time for his debut in Saudi Arabia. How good will he be this time?
Will he be able to prove the first fight was a fluke, an off night or simply to confirm that he travelled 3500 miles to find the guy that has his number?
I believe the last, but this time he will put a better fight, just the end will be similar to the first fight
The only way AJ wins this is if he KO’s Ruiz early, if not he will get hit, hurt and quit again or just get TKOed…
AJ……………….??? Box box bam!!! box box bam!!! box box bam!!! Pork fed is going to have a face like a swollen plum. lol Look what he did to Klitchko. That is who is showing up Saturday. Lol
Klit was washed up and barely threw right hands anymore. He sucked bad. So thats not thaaat impressive.
Disagree , the klitscho that turned up against aj was the best for years , totally focused and ripped and looked good
What was that then that put Joshua on his back and in danger of losing his title? I do think Joshua will beat Ruiz this time though how much further he can go remains to be seen.
There are those who say that Ruiz will be better with more prep and cite that he had little time to prepare.
I’d say it worked more against AJ in fight 1. AJ was preparing for a different sized man with different physical dimensions and a guy who he disliked. I reckon it’s more detrimental to have to change for a different opponent after having everything drilled in to the first opponent that to take a fight at shorter notice but not having prepared for a different fighter.
The other thing is that AR would be giving away height to most fighters and that coupled with the likelihood that he would have likely studied opponents on/above his level (AJ,Wilder/Fury/Whyte/Ortiz etc) much more and for a much longer time than AJ would have Ruiz. Ruiz probably wasn’t in most people’s top 10 before the fight so AJ would likely not have been contemplating facing him until they both got the notice.
I’m an AJ fan and hope he does it and I think he will. The main arguments for Ruiz are that he won the 1st fight so their respective confidence levels could be a factor and maybe stylistically he has his number.
In this fight , both fighters will have had the same time to prepare and both preparing for each other so there are no ifs and maybes. Whoever wins this is IMO the man , even if Wilder/Fury would likely beat them.
Once a fighter gets in your head. He stays in your head! Ruiz by ko in the 8th.
I love this matchup on so many levels, but it’s the psychological aspect that is most interesting:
1) AJ – nailed Ruiz and watched him not only get off the canvas, but beat him up afterward. The fact that it wasn’t a one punch KO makes it really hard to shake. You can say he never fully recovered, but what does he truly believe?
2) Ruiz – does he believe that he simply has AJ’s mind body and spirit? Has the success gone to his head?
I lean toward Ruiz repeating, but it is a really interesting fight. I could totally see a boring 12 round Decision for AJ regardless of his talk of a stoppage. We’ll know which way it’s going early, probably by Round 3.
Ruiz is a much much better boxer than AJ. He was able to easily walk down AJ in the first fight, coming straight forward and parrying most of AJ’s punches. His timing is better. His combos are better and even worse AJ hates combo punches. Ruiz will punch with AJ and land more punches. AJ will gas out from the pressure of Ruiz again. AJ has to knockout Ruiz early or it’s going to be the same result as last time. I really don’t see Ruiz losing this fight though, his skill set is far beyond AJ’s.
This is a toss up fight in so many ways. Does the Joshua that fought Klitschko, Whyte, Povetkin, Takam, Martin, Breazele, show up? That fighter that draws 70-100 thousand people and is a fighter that finds ways to win even when he is hurt, buzzed,and bit tired. Now we all know how he lost last time, and by not taking a couple of fights before fighting Ruiz again how can that help him? The other side of the coin is Ruiz, who if anyone has seen him in his other fights knows very well that this man is not what he appears to be. Ruiz is a very skilled boxer/puncher that does not get out of sorts if his opponents hit him or hurt him. And he has shown in every fight he finds the way to win. Yeah and in the Parker fight, the WORST he should have gotten was a draw. So what is going to happen here, this fight SCREAMS of a draw decision, because Joshua has already said they will SURELY have a 3rd fight, and you know that with Hearn his promoter, and DAZN looking how to MILK anything and everything and a fight in Saudi Arabia right away does not bode well for Ruiz, do not be surprised to see a draw or a majority B.S win for Joshua and the 3rd fight within 6 months. Joshua will get that 3rd fight.
I agree about Ruiz being robbed against Parker, a case of home town decision if ever there was one.