Tyson Fury thinks Anthony Joshua could be in for a really tough fight this Saturday night against the unheralded Andy Ruiz Jr. on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) will be defending his IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles against the chubby-looking Ruiz Jr. (32-1, 21 KOs), who fans have dismissed as having no chance of winning the fight.
It’s believed that Ruiz Jr. is being judged by the boxing fans by how he looks rather than how he’s fought as a pro, since his only career loss as pro was a controversial 12 round decision defeat to Joseph Parker in 2016 in New Zealand.
Fury tells how he’ll beat Joshua
“Punch his face in, he’s a big, bum dosser. Joshua is not a great fighter,” said Fury when asked how he’d beat Joshua. “He’s just a mediocre, average heavyweight from the ‘70s and, if he was in the ‘70s, he wouldn’t even be a world champion… Joshua’s a big p—y. If he thinks he can do anything about it, then he’s got to some see me. Joshua is not an amazing fighter.”
Fury is making it sound more simple than it would actually be if he were to fight the unbeaten Joshua. Instead of Fury punching Joshua’s “face in,” as he says he would, he would most likely try and box him the same way he did against Deontay Wilder and Wladimir Klitschko. In other words, Fury would spoil, and try and try and frustrate the heavily muscled Joshua to win a decision. It wouldn’t be easy for Fury to do though, as Joshua would use his jab, throw combinations, and let his hands go. Wilder made the mistake of loading up too much on his shots against Fury in their fight last December, and this made it possible for him to dodge those badly telegraphed punches.
Wilder needed throw combinations, and reload after missing. Wilder would fall forward after throwing a long right hand. When he was at close range with Fury, Wilder failed to throw punches. He would wait for the referee to separate him from Fury before throwing another long right hand. Joshua would try and throw punches on the inside against Fury, and that would make his job easier. Wladimir was too afraid to throw punches, period. By that point in Wladimir’s career, hand-eye coordination was completely shot. His accuracy was gone, and the only punches that he could land with any degree of accuracy was his jabs. Since Wladimir didn’t trust his ability to land his right hand and left hooks with any degree of accuracy, he chose not to throw punches, and this enabled Fury to win the fight by default.
Tyson Fury analyzes Joshua vs. Ruiz
“This is heavyweight boxing. Everybody has a chance against the next man,” Fury said. “He has as great a chance as everybody. He has the same chance,” said Fury about Ruiz Jr. having a chance of beating Joshua. “So when you’re talking chances, everybody can do something otherwise they wouldn’t be here.”
Not everyone has a chance of beating Joshua. Fury is joking in saying that. If it was simply a case of any fighter having a shot at beating Joshua, it would have been done already. It’s going to take someone special to dethrone Joshua, and it’s not likely going to be Ruiz Jr. on Saturday. No matter what Fury wants to say about Ruiz Jr. having a chance of winning, he probably won’t. Ruiz Jr. has been picked out by Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn from rock bottom of the International Boxing Federation’s rankings at #15. Hearn picked Ruiz Jr. out from that spot for a reason. He sees him as an easy mark, and he thinks that he’ll be able to bring in a lot of American boxing fans to want to subscribe to DAZN to see Joshua make his debut in the U.S.
“People are overlooking Andy Ruiz Jr. because he has a chubby body, and he’s short, but the guy can fight,” said Fury about Ruiz Jr. “That [Joshua vs. Ruiz Jr.] won’t be an easy fight. Joshua has never been out of the UK before. Who knows? He may fold a bit under the pressure,” said Fury.