By Ian S Palmer
Andy Ruiz Jr. of Imperial, California defends his IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA (Super) Heavyweight Titles against former champ Anthony Joshua of Watford, England this Saturday, December 7th. The 12-round bout takes place in Saudi Arabia and can be seen live in the UK on Sky Box Office while fans in North America can catch the action on DAZN. This of course is a rematch of their June fight in which Ruiz pulled off an upset by stopping Joshua in the seventh round at Madison Square Garden in New York. Ruiz was dropped in the third round of that bout while Joshua was down twice in the third and twice more in the seventh before it was halted.
The 30-year-old Joshua of Watford is a former Olympic gold medalist who won the IBF Title in just his 16th pro bout when he stopped Charles Martin in the second round in April, 2016. He enters the fight with a record of 22-1 with 21 big Kos. He ended his first 14 bouts and 16 of his first 18 fights within the first three rounds. However, he’s gone 11, 10, 12, seven and seven rounds in his last five outings against Wladimir Klitschko, Carlos Takam, Joseph Parker, Alexander Povetkin and Ruiz respectively. Joshua won the British title against Dillian Whyte in December, 2015 after winning gold at the 2012 Olympics.
Joshua has excellent power but his chin is a major question mark and his power hasn’t been quite as evident lately. Klitschko had him down and apparently out in the sixth round but Joshua came back and stopped him to win the majority of his belts. Joshua turned pro in 2013 and has 91rounds under his belt since. He’s a good-sized heavyweight by today’s standards as he stands 6-feet-6-inches tall and has a reach of 82 inches. His best known opponents have been Ruiz, Klitschko, Takam, Parker, Povetkin, Martin, Whyte, Eric Molina, Dominic Breazeale, Kevin Johnson, Matt Skelton and Michael Sprott.
Joshua is arguably a bit too muscle bound, but possesses pretty good boxing skills even if he is a bit robotic. He has decent mobility and upper body movement as well as a stiff jab. He usually tries to stay away from slugfests if possible while he attempts to box his opponents and use his size to advantage. However, he’s often forced to slug it out when he gets nailed on the chin and rocked. He’ll try using his jab and nailing Ruiz with something solid whenever he sees an opening and will definitely go after him if he feels his opponent’s hurt.
The 30-year-old Ruiz has an impressive mark of 33-1 with 22 Kos. His only loss was a 12-round majority decision for the vacant WBO World Heavyweight Championship against Joseph Parker in December, 2016. Ruiz was formerly the NABF Heavyweight Champion. He’s an intelligent boxer in the ring and possesses an effective jab, which he uses to set up his power shots. His best weapons are the left hook and overhand right and he’s been able to stop 14 of his past 20 opponents. There’s no doubt he has decent power and his current knockout ratio stands at 64.7 per cent.
Ruiz has boxed 151 rounds since turning pro in 2009 and has also beaten the likes of Alexander Dimitrenko, Kevin Johnson, Siarhei Liakhovich, Joe Hanks, Tor Hamer, Ray Austin, Josh Gormley, Franklin Lawrence and Carl Davis. He’s 6-feet-2-inches tall with a 74-inch reach, so he gives up four inches in height and eight inches in reach to Joshua. He won the NABA, and WBO Inter Continental Heavyweight Crowns when he stopped Manuel Quezada in the second round in 2014. The knock against Ruiz is that he doesn’t always come into the ring in the best of shape. He was 268 lbs against Joshua in June but who can argue and that’s not bad considering he weighed 297 lbs in his pro debut.
Prediction…
The first fight was a bit of an upset but many fans weren’t too surprised since Joshua’s chin has always been in question. Ruiz Jr. has good boxing skills for a big guy and while neither he or Joshua is built for speed they can both bang. Ruiz gives up quite a bit in reach and height but it didn’t deter him in June. Both boxers have reportedly slimmed down and lost weight for the rematch and it’s going to be interesting out it effects both their power and ability to absorb a punch. Ruiz should have quite a bit of confidence but let’s not forget he was the first to hit the canvas in June. No outcome will be a surprise here but a trilogy could be on the horizon if Joshua manages to regain his belts so let’s go with that.
