At last, Anthony Joshua is crossing the pond to fight in the United States, where he’ll be tested by Andy Ruiz Jr. at the Mecca of basketball: the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York. Ruiz took on the fight on just six-week notice after original challenger Jarrell Miller was busted for using a performance-enhancing drug. Will Ruiz capitalize on the golden opportunity to become a world champion? Or will Joshua add another to his long list of victims?
Joshua is, without a shadow of doubt, the overwhelming favorite in his upcoming bout against a relative unknown in Ruiz. The last time he stepped inside the ring, Joshua scored a technical knockout over Alexander Povetkin in London in September of 2018. With 21 knockout wins in 22 career fights, it’s obvious that Joshua has some serious pop in his fists, as Povetkin had learned. However, Joshua has been in a few fights that lasted more than most people expected those bouts to go. Prior to the Povetkin bout, Joshua went the full 12 rounds to get a unanimous decision win over Joseph Parker. He also knocked out Carlos Takam and Vladimir Klitschko in the 10th and the 11th round, respectively. If anything, those prolonged matches only prove that Joshua always comes into his fights in perfect conditioning. His cardio is good enough for him to survive a 12-rounder and his hands are powerful enough to finish a bout early. Physically, Joshua has the tools to render Ruiz ineffective. At 6-6, Joshua has a four-inch height advantage over the 6-2 Ruiz and an eight-inch reach advantage, 82-74. Joshua’s fights have an average finish of 3.8 rounds.
Betting on Andy Ruiz Jr. (+1000)
Total fights: 33
Wins: 32
Wins by KO: 21
Losses: 1
Draws: 0
In Ruiz’s own fantasy, he is going to shock the world by taking down Joshua in the Big Apple. Unfortunately for him, he’s going to fight Joshua in a real-world setting. As a big underdog, one of Ruiz’s priority once he finishes touching up gloves with Joshua is to find a way to cut the champion down to size. As mentioned, Joshua is the taller and longer fighter between the two, so Ruiz needs to bring the action near the ropes and corners, where his shorter reach won’t be much of a disadvantage compared to when the fight is fought in the middle of the ring. Ruiz has experience in fighting for a title. He fought Joseph Parker in 2016 for the WBO heavyweight title but lost that meeting via a majority decision. Parker is a common denominator for Ruiz and Joshua, and though Joshua won his fight with Parker, one could make a case that Ruiz was more impressive in his meeting with the New Zealand native slugger. Although Ruiz doesn’t have the chiseled physique of Joshua, he can be deceptively quick and mobile. He showed some of that in his win over Alexander Dimitrenko last April. With 21 knockout wins, Ruiz knows that he can hurt Joshua, and just needs a nicely timed punched to stagger the champ.
