Ruiz threatens to beat Joshua “even faster”

Andy Ruiz Jr has warned Anthony Joshua that he could beat him “even faster” than he did when he ripped the IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO belts from ‘AJ’ on a memorable night at Madison Square Garden in New York back in June. The pair collide for a second time at the Diriyah Arena in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Ruiz Joshua Arrivals
Photos: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing

‘The Destroyer’ believes Joshua will aim to regain his crowns by adopting a cautious in-ring strategy following their explosive first meeting that saw Ruiz knock down Joshua four times on route to a monumental seventh round stoppage win.

“I’m expecting that,” said Ruiz Jr. “But if he wants to bang, it’s better for me. I love to bang because that’s the fighter that I am. December 7 we have to pressure, work the body, break him down. Especially his mentality.

“We’ve got to see where he’s at because all the pressure is on him. The pressure isn’t on me because I followed my dream, made my dreams come true. Of course I want more though – I want the legacy of Andy Ruiz Jr.”

Ruiz Jr had previously explained that his sparring partners were being “slick” in anticipation of Joshua trying to be elusive.

“People haven’t seen me cut off the ring,” Ruiz Jr warned. “I actually break them down even faster when they try to box me around. We all have a plan until we get hit, like Mike Tyson would say. I’m pretty sure he will want to box me around.

“One punch can change the fight. That’s what happened on June 1. It might be a little harder than the first time. I’ve got to show my skills, my talent.”

Ruiz Jr’s only defeat in 34 fights came via majority decision to Joseph Parker in 2016, a verdict he still disputes. He insists that his style will always be a problem for Joshua.

“Especially me staying small. I don’t think he likes fighting against that style. I don’t think he’s ever fought a short guy that pressures, and is pretty slick. I felt like I was boxing him around even though I was the shorter guy. I was counter-punching him. When he would throw, I would throw back with more punches.

“He saw something that he’s never seen before. People said before, who would you rather fight: Joshua, Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury? I always said Joshua because of his style. Styles make fights. His style was perfect for me to become the unified heavyweight champion.”

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    • Unlikely how? His boxing skills are much better than AJ’s and he easily beat him the first time. Ruiz will win again Saturday night. Joshua can’t handle combination punching and Ruiz knows it. Joshua will be gassed after 5-6 rounds and Ruiz will begin to have his way.

      • Berserker,
        I Would love to see it.
        How great would it be??
        I was wrong the 1st time, hope i’m wrong again.
        (Btw. I am usually right about these outcomes)

      • His boxing skills are not as good as Joshua’s. He got a good punch in and it happens. Joshua may have a problem with shorter guys but it remains to be seen.

      • Beserker I recon the only way Joshua wins is by punching straight down the middle the whole fight like in the Parker fight. Hope the ref does not stop the action all the time like in the Parker fight.

    • We all the know the antics fighters play by talking smack, lack of fear, and sheer criticism that gets the crowds going. We call it the game of promoting an event. AJ’s chin was tested and Ruiz found the sweet spot to put him on the floor. AJ better know what the word “defense” is this time. His lack of defense got him dropped and he tasted the canvas in the first fight. A fighter is born with a “chin”. It’s the anatomical makeup thru DNA not what a gym can produce. A “chin” is made up thru the 7th and 5th cranial nerves, neck muscles, formation of the mandible (jaw), and the brain behind the cranium. AJ better have his “A” game on his defense or history will repeat itself when Ruiz taps that sweet spot again.

      • AJ didn’t go down from a punch to the chin, he went down 3 times because of a punch to the temple and head.

        His “sweet spot” is his temple and head, he could have likely taken a better punch to the chin but not to the head.

        Ruiz got lucky swinging wildly, he may or may not get lucky again, we shall see Saturday.

        • Juan, no offense, but have you sat thru an anatomy class? The cranial nerves go from the jaw to the top of the head. They are all intertwined making the jaw or head vulnerable. You call Ruiz lucky or not, but he won fair and square. I guess if Ruiz got lucky, then that speaks volumes on AJ’s lack of defense, correct?

  • I love Ruiz’s attitude. This time he has had a full camp with preparation so he may be able to win this again. In my opinion the odds are still against him. There is more that Joshua can do differently than Ruiz can do in the 2nd fight. For one I think a lot of people forget that Joshua did hurt Ruiz and put him down so not much is needed from an offensive standpoint as far as being able to hit and hurt the guy. For 2 Joshua can decide to rely on his jab a lot more in this fight and not let Ruiz close the distance he needs to. And 3rd and final is that Joshua is a good athlete so he can put together a better game plan than Ruiz as far as being able to switch things up.. In other words I think Ruiz needs the same thing to happen and can’t really do much to adjust if Joshua throws a different type of fight at him. Joshua had one thing on his mind last time and that was win big in America. Now all he has to do is win. This will define the rest of his career.

  • annoyed with Ruiz since he won the title he has acted like a arrogant punk. I cant wait for AJ to beat him down.

  • I think Joshua will have a different strategy, he will be aggressive, until he hurts Ruiz. If he never hurts Ruiz, he will be aggressive to try to take the title back. Once he drops/staggers/stuns Ruiz, he has to back off and play it cautious, because Ruiz basically took the fight away from Joshua once Joshua hurt him. If Joshua goes in for the kill if he stuns Ruiz, probably a 75% chance the same result: Ruiz is hurt, but then hurts Joshua worse, and turns the fight around.

  • Right now Ruiz is trying his best to beat AJ before the fight even begins. He’s getting in his head with all this talk. Right now I am leaning towards AJ but it’s still a pretty tough fight to pick.

    But IF Ruiz destroys AJ easier this time, then what’s next for AJ?

  • Ruiz is getting annoying. I know he need to build up is confidence but i think at the same time that he’s acting way over is head. Except his win against Joshua, he hasn’t prove nothing. He lost against Parker and beat a shot Johnson by UD. His only big other win is against a once overhype Dimitrenko that got KO even faster by Tony Yoka who has 7 professional fights. I don’t believe in Ruiz hype, he just got a lucky night, that’s it.

  • If Ruiz wins this one big, Wilder will avoid him like the flu. If they fought say…In two months from now, Ruiz would knock him out..Wilder knows that!

    • That’s not true. I do believe Wilder thinks he can beat anyone and after Fury if Ruiz is still there Wilder will make that happen and it should be easy to make with both being network FA’s

      • Wilder would not be able to handle all the pressure Ruiz would put on him…Wilder would be overwhelmed in every round for as long as it lasted.

  • Only place Pillsbury Dough boy is going is face down on the canvas. He won’t be able to con Joshua into a brawl. That is his intentions. Joshua will box smart this time ala Lennox/Rachman 2. Can’t wait to see everyone eat crow. No point in arguing. The writing is on the wall.

  • Its always risky to comment on a fight that brings out so many (and often irrational) emotions in people.

    Both, AJ and Ruiz have proven to be some of the best in the division. AJ had the better credentials but got knocked out for the first time as a pro. So, its up to him to make adjustments. I think its safe to say that AJ is a smart person as well as an experienced boxer, and that he will therefore be able to make the adjustments needed to win the fight. He will keep Ruiz at a distance, move more and hit hard whenever he can create an opening with his jab. Ruiz will have to get on the inside by all means to be successful again.

    Both fighters will most likely come in lighter than the first fight, which means that the fight will be fought at a higher speed than the first one. AJ will use his size and reach advantage more carefully this time around. He knows he can hurt and KO Ruiz, just like Ruiz knows that he can hurt and KO AJ again.

    I expect a more tactical chess match in the beginning and depending on the outcome of the first rounds, one of them will gain confidence and eventually take over the fight. I don’t think the fight will go the distance. Heavyweight fights tend to end more often in one punch KO’s than fights in any other division. So, there’s always a factor of increased unpredictability when heavyweights meet.

    That said, I think that AJ will show up much better prepared than for the first fight, and if he does, he will find a way to win the fight by KO.

  • I don’t get it. Ruiz shows a bit of cockiness and all of a sudden he’s an arrogant prick according to the idiots who are turned off by it. Yet a total clown like Mayweather talks all kinds of shit then proceeds to bore the shit out of the paying public by putting on another one of his pathetic safety first performances and he’s the greatest fighter of all time to some of those same boneheads…

  • Rooting for Ruiz all the way. Hope it’s a good fight with Ruiz coming out on top with another KO. Ruiz must be harder to hit than he appears because Joshua looked uncomfortable and not confident enough to let his hands go.

  • These are fighters guys, they’re supposed to be confident. Ruiz never had a shitty record, I mean his opponents weren’t big names like that but he wasn’t really used to losing either. Look at his eyes when he got dropped lol, he couldn’t wait to get him back. After that knockdown Ruiz was pressuring and controlled the fight.. not sure if he’ll be able to do that again when AJ is 100% fully focused and trained specifically for him. But we will see.. I think AJ wins personally. There were too many things that he can change. For Ruiz it’s not fair for me to say that he can’t change anything.. to be honest I haven’t watched him much so he may have other skills but for now I just see him doing the same thing as the first fight. These guys are heavyweights anyone can bang.. you won’t see a lot of 50-0 records in this division but you might see a heavyweight so dominant that he can avenge every loss like Lennox did. Knockouts/kds happen in boxing specially in heavyweight. In the second fight we will see if Ruiz was the real deal. He didn’t put AJ out cold but he let him know to be ready next time.

    • It’s not as if Joshua’s loss to Ruiz was an accident. Joshua was supposed to lose vs Klitschko, but Klitschko let the young lion come back. Klitschko had it won, but he stopped attacking. Joshua was also hurt vs Whyte. Everytime he was hurt in any fight, he did not look good. I mean, he was almost defenseless… Lennox was a natural boxer, so is Ruiz. Joshua must think when something happens too quickly for him and that puts him behind when it’s time to react quickly to danger time…

  • I think for AJ to win he has to make it a boring fight…
    Box long range behind the jab scoring points and clinch in close-Klitschko style,while keeping his right hand glued to his temple.Maybe he can catch Ruiz on the way in with the uppercut/l hook combo but he mustn’t get drawn into a firefight because Ruiz has all the advantages in close

  • AJ used no head movement and looked slow and robotic in the first fight while Ruiz showcased incredible hand speed throwing 5-punch combinations and proved that he could get hit. And yet AJ managed to hurt Ruiz before trying to finish him off and taking that punch he never really recovered from. Can’t wait for Saturday: should be a dramatic fight.

  • Ruiz is trying to confuse Joshua with this statement. Obviously he will to avoid the type of punch that put him on the canvas with a tight high guard and moving fast side to side to counter inside. I still believe that once he staggers Joshua, the fight will turn on his favor and the end will be inevitable. My guess is past the 7 round.

  • I believe Joshua will start cautious but will eventually be dragged into a dogfight. He might survive that, he might not depending on his tank. This fight can go either way, I would say Ruiz TKO 9 or AJ taking a decision. If I had to pick one I would pick Ruiz, his attitude and spirit might be the difference between the two.

  • Let’s be honest here. After AJ dropped Ruiz he went in with wreckless abandon and got caught against a guy who wasn’t ready to go. Once AJ got caught with an equilibrium shot his legs were gone. He took some better shots but the damage was already done and it was only a matter of time. If AJ fights behind a jab and break down Ruiz’s rhythm he can reclaim the belt. However the psychological advantage is in Ruiz’s court.

  • We already know this odd ref was put in to prevent Ruiz from working on the inside. He’ll likely need to battle the ref also.

  • Joshua lands blows with mean intentions then i see joshua winning…and he cant fight small or use a Lazy jab….

  • This fight is going to the opposite of the first fight in all manners
    ..ruiz will be nullified to the point where joshua lands blows with mean intentions and takes care of buisness and knocks ruiz out… Or a tko…. And once again the heavyweight champion of the world….

  • Of all That have boasted Back to Back KOs in their Rematches. Why do I feel Andy will come through. Why???

  • Aj has to establish a good jab first… Fight at long range and use his Foot work which is better than ruiz.. Dont get into a slugfest.. I see a opposite of the first fight in all manners. And the rest will be history.. Joshua winning by tko or ko. Round 10….joshua lands blows with mean intentions.. Thanks

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