Diamond Dog wrote:Diamond Dog wrote:
Maybe Ruiz could give him a shot if he beats Joshua again (for which i've just backed him at 5/2 which is a huge price in my eyes).
I've just watched the Sky Sports "AJ: The Untold Truth" hour long special.
Very enlightening - I think it's fair to say Joshua has completely lost his love for the sport of boxing. He likes the passport it gives him to do the other things in his life he wants (setting up a foundation/charity for one) but he has clearly no love of the fight game itself anymore. I was sitting there thinking "This guy might well retire after the Ruiz fight, win or lose". Ad then he actually said exactly that.
Boxing isn't a sport you can do if you don;t really want to - at least, and not be as successful as you were when you were hungry and needed it. Joshua doesn't need it - he has made enough money...for himself and his family. He said so. If you read between the lines, the only reason he is continuing is because he is embarrassed that Ruiz beat him and wants to settle that score. He knows he's been frozen out of the Fury/Wilder debate for at least 18 months, so he isn't even thinking about them as a realistic possibility. He says he only wants to fight the top guys so... after Ruiz, even if he wins, who else? No one, especially with White's drug fiasco ruling him out of the frame.
In my eyes, going to Dubai to fight Ruiz is a huge mistake. Nothing I saw suggests he really wants the fight - indeed, I think he sounded like a man that has already retired in his eyes (after the Ruiz fight). That's a very dangerous state of mind to be in. I can't see any other result besides another Ruiz victory.
It's on Youtube :