Promoter Bob Arum has said it is “insane, silly, the dumbest thing” for dethroned heavyweight Anthony Joshua to be having a rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr for the three belts the Briton lost nine days ago in Manhattan.
An immediate rematch anyway, which is expected to be in Cardiff in November or December, or even back at Madison Square Garden, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.
Joshua was felled four times by Ruiz, with the fight stopped by the referee in the seventh round. “It’s not something I would have predicted,” said Arum, who promoted Ruiz for several fights. “Andy is a pretty good fighter. He has fast hands and quick feet. But he has absolutely no punch.
“He was in with a lot of guys who couldn’t spell fight, and he beat them, but he couldn’t knock them out. The fact he knocked out a fighter like Joshua, who I had seen on television and in person against Joseph Parker, it shocked me.
“Andy Ruiz is a lovely guy, but he’s no Wladimir Klitschko. If Joshua was able to survive Klitschko, who can punch, and knock him out, how the hell does Ruiz beat him? Unless it wasn’t Joshua in the ring. Now that’s something that can happen. Maybe he didn’t train hard enough. Maybe he suffered an injury. When something like this happens, there may never be that Joshua again.”
Arum, who is promoting into his sixth decade, has seen this before, and it can go one of many ways, he believes. “Let me give you an example that English boxing fans will understand,” he said. “We had this great welterweight. People were saying he was going to be better than Sugar Ray Leonard. He was a champion named Donald Curry.
“We put him in the ring with a guy called Lloyd Honeyghan, a guy he could get a win against. And Honeyghan was like a 40-1 underdog. Curry didn’t show up and got beat.
“I remember Honeyghan rolling around on the canvas after the fight. Curry was never the same. He was brilliant, looked like he was unbeatable. Then Honeyghan beat him and Curry never recovered. Mike McCallum then knocked him out. He was never the same fighter. That is what could happen to Joshua.”
Arum, speaking as a promoter, would not do Ruiz-Joshua II straight away. “It’s the dumbest thing from the standpoint of a young fighter, who Joshua is, who you want to bring back and recover. The idea you’d put him back in with Ruiz is insane. Give him some fights.
“Forget about the titles. The titles will always be there. Joshua is a great personality. He shouldn’t go back with Andy Ruiz. Any real boxing guy would tell you that. Unfortunately, his promoter is not a boxing guy.”
But could Joshua rebuild and be the same force? “No, he’ll never be the same,” Arum said. “He could beat Ruiz, but he’ll never be the same. So much of boxing is mental. Opponents will never give him the respect he would have got before.
“Nobody could beat Mike Tyson until Buster Douglas. Then guys like Evander Holyfield realised that they would have a good chance with Mike because they weren’t intimidated.
“When Tyson became a professional, I booked Tyson every other week and they were all one-round knockouts. Because I’d look across the ring at the opponent and the guy’s legs would be shaking. Tyson had built up that reputation. Once he’s beaten, that reputation is diminished and the fighters have a lot more confidence.”
Arum says the fight with Ruiz has affected Joshua’s ascendancy. “They brought him along terrifically well. People recognised him as the best heavyweight or one of the best. But if Andy Ruiz can knock him down four times, anyone can.”
The secret, said Arum, is to rebuild slowly. “You cannot rush it, you shouldn’t. You need to build his confidence up, build his credibility with other fighters, take your time – the title will always be there. To chase these belts, you’ve got to be out of your mind. That is a real disservice to Joshua.
“If they put him in with Ruiz, it’s silly. If it was a 12-round fight and Ruiz had won on points, that would be different. But he lost in a devastating way to Ruiz. He got beat and knocked out. It wasn’t a lucky punch. He got knocked down four times. Don’t put him in with the same guy until you’ve rebuilt him and rebuilt his confidence.”