IF YOU were to walk into a gym right now and see Anthony Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) and Andy Ruiz (33-1, 22KOs) working out you would (in your normal but extremely opinionated mind) be quite sure who between the two is the heavyweight champion of the world.
At 6’6” and 250 lbs, Joshua is a hulk of a man, with arms that looked like they could easily tear a phonebook in half.
In comparison, you would probably take a look at the 6’2” pudgy, round bellied, baby-faced Ruiz, huffing and puffing in the corner as some executive trying hard to lose some extra pounds on the weekend.
And it would be perfectly all right for you to think that way. Only that last Sunday, you, me, and the rest of the world were proven dead wrong.
KNOCKOUT. I have always declared that Joshua was a sucker for a huge overhand right and this would likely make him easy prey for someone like WBC champion Deontay Wilder, who is somewhat similar in size and stature.
But never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that Ruiz would have a modicum of a chance in knocking out Joshua.
Not to take anything away from Ruiz, who came in to the fight with a good record, having lost only once previously to Joseph Parker via majority decision. But he never fought any other elite fighter in the division, making his chances against Joshua seem quite miniscule.
Joshua’s first mistake came in the third round after he knocked down Ruiz. He attacked him quite carelessly and got rocked in return. He tried to match Ruiz’ output but the problem was Ruiz’s was ready for a dogfight and had the stamina to back it up.
What followed were three more knockdowns inflicted by Ruiz over a tiring and rapidly fading Joshua, which culminated in a seventh round stoppage.
Joshua was never really hurt. He looked more gassed than anything which shows that sometimes all that brawn can hurt and not help.
You see, muscles suck out a lot of the oxygen and it’s quite probable that he didn’t train quite as diligently as he should have against the massive underdog Ruiz.
To his credit, Joshua was quite gracious in his defeat and he refused to make any excuses.
Congratulations to Andy Ruiz, the first Mexican heavyweight champion of the world. Indeed, you can never judge a book by its cover.
LAST ROUND. It’s on a very dear friend, Maristela Castellano-Ostrea who celebrates her birthday today. Cheers Stel!