Andy Ruiz ready for whatever Anthony Joshua shows up December 7!
When it comes to his highly anticipated rematch with Anthony “AJ” Joshua (22-1, 21 KO’s), Andy “Destroyer” Ruiz Jr (33-1, 22 KO’s) is all set to go. Ahead of their initial clash on June 1, Ruiz was brought in on short notice and was not given much of a shot to win by the main stream boxing pundits. With less than a week before the grandly important rematch there still is an overwhelming number of folks labeling him as a fluke.
Fortunately for him, Andy Ruiz Jr couldn’t care less!
PROPER PREPARATION
As far as Ruiz Jr is concerned he is the champion and he has every intention on remaining the only unified champion at heavyweight. Outside of mere mental confidence and self-belief, Ruiz has enjoyed a number of strategic advantages barreling into the rematch. Most notably, this time around, Team Ruiz has had the benefit of not only knowing there was an upcoming fight he also knows who that fight is with!
While this may sound like common sense, neither of those two elements were present for the premiere dust-up. Now that the Destroyer and his team have been armed with this prior knowledge, they’ve been able to structure a whole camp around gearing up for AJ. Having completed this grueling camp, Ruiz was more adamant than ever that he can topple Joshua once again when speaking with Fight Hub TV.
“We’ve been working hard. We had longer preparation than we did for June 1. So I’m pretty sure he has a really good game plan up his sleeve, but what we’ve been doing is perfect for his style that he is trying to do.
“I think he’s going to be boxing around, you know? I think he’s going to be using his distance, trying to jab me around, but you know it’s my job for him not to do that.”
READY TO DEFEAT WHATEVER AJ SHOWS UP
Although confident, the Destroyer is doing anything but approaching the rematch with arrogance or conceit. He fully understands that Joshua is hungry to reclaim his usurped glory. Not only is he hell bent on retrieving his hostilely pilfered hardware, he is more than physically capable of putting a hurting on Ruiz to do so.
The newly crowned champion has not so quickly forgotten that it was AJ who placed him on the canvas first.
By keeping these realities fresh in mind, Ruiz has been able to enjoy the luxuries of his new status without falling into the trap of “big-headedness.” By maintaining his clear thinking, the Destroyer can openly accept that AJ might be a much more destructive monster than he was in the first encounter. Or, perhaps Joshua will get smashed much more easily.
Regardless of what winds up happening, Ruiz is preparing to face the most ferocious version of AJ possible.
“It could go either way you know? It could probably go easier or probably go harder. The main thing is that I just to do what we’ve been practicing inside the gym and let my hands go.”
By: Bakari Simpson
