Stortz

Yeah, that Yank ref is absolute shite. It says it all about the officiating for that fight that Adalaide ******* bastard Byrd was one of the judges!

Possibly the worst refereeing I've ever seen, only a point deducted for that?! Then compounds it by letting the round go on for 20 seconds too long! The end:

Briedis elbowed the Polish fella at the end of the second and decked him and the ref took a point. Then the round over ran massively and Glowacki got decked again ages after the round should have stopped. Glowacki had no time to recover between the rounds then they both ran out at the start of the 3rd going toe to toe and Briedis knocked him the **** out! edit- the elbow

**** me it's gone bonkers in Riga! Edit- all over, crazy scenes.

No, I'm with you mate, I'd love to see Baz box his ears off. Unfortunatley Warrington is going to catch up with him sooner or later. Edit Dorticos DESTROYS Tabiti in the 10th

It's a battle of the shittest shorts. Evening Bird!

Evening all. Dorticos and Tabiti are about to walk on Sky. Welborn Metcalf has been good so far in Leeds.

I think it's because he is a earth shatteringly stupid arsehole of the highest order tbh mate. Good fighter though, annoyingly.

Exactly mate, Galahd possibly has the skillset, but it's a hard night's work to stay away form a pressure fighter like Warrington for 12 rounds. I must say Warrington was great against Frampton but I still massively dislike him because of the Leeds connection. Bovine ****wits, I wish they'd stay the **** away from boxing. Scum.

They're such a shower of ***** it's untrue. My sympathies for sharing a county with them Owl! The WBSS cruiser semis are on Sky at the same time as this tomorrow, there should be some serious fireworks in Riga.

Gennady's left hook is a thing of great beauty. He likes fight.

Higgs In box number 1 With the watertight contract imo.

I think it's a fair comment from @TomF tbh mate. AJ has always had the same physical limitations, but before his mindset and confidence carried him through and allowed him to make the most of his attributes and athleticism. He's clearly nothing like right mentally before the bell in this one compared to every other time he has fought, and that will obviously impact upon his ability to fight.

You'd think Joshua using his natural attributes would be far too strong for him, but i just don't understand what went so wrong on Saturday- and I don't know whether it can all be turned around in 5 months. The AJ who beat Klitschko would eat Ruiz Jnr for breakfast but it's a long way back from Saturday imo. I would back Whyte, I reckon he would foul Ruiz Jnr to bits haha. He has a nastier streak than AJ and is a better counter and body puncher too.

Don't get me wrong, I really hope that AJ can turn it around and we can look back on the loss as a wake up call and a new start for him- the same as Rahman was for Lewis- but history is certainly against him. It was apparently Floyd Patterson's revenge v Ingemar Johansson back in June 1960.

He did put Ruiz Jnr down, but he got straight back up and beat AJ up for the rest of the fight. Joshua simply can't fight inside, making Ruiz Jnr kryptonite to him. With regard to his jab, Joshua didn't have one on Saturday. I read the other day that only 3 deposed world champions have ever won immediate rematches in the history of boxing (Sugar Ray Robinson v Gene Fulmer, Lewis v Rahman and another I can't remember!). I'm really not convinced AJ can buck the trend after the manner of his defeat.

I see what you're saying, but if he loses again he's totally finished- and he's going to go into a rematch with exactly the same problems as it stands. Who knows what murky politicking could take place. You'd think Ruiz Jnr would get his arse sued off if he dumped the rematch though, I imagine Matchroom employ excellent lawyers.

I would be advising AJ to turn that down, go away for 12 months, rebuild and come back rather than going straight into a rematch in the states. Can only see him losing again 5 months down the line in the States. The trouble is now Al Haymon has all the belts and is calling the shots. Hearn is shitting himself. I'm not convinced he's thinking of what's right for Joshua.

No, it's contractually over here. Ruiz Jnr's share of the pot will have rocketed though. Bit cold at Wembley at that time of year Tom! Surely it'll be at the Millenium Stadium, unless they pare it right back to the O2 to try and help Joshua get his confidence back. edit- I'm wrong sorry, it was the deal they offered Ortiz that contractually stipulated the UK for any rematch. Surely they'll have it here though, it'd be crazy and very risky not to.

Very difficult to argue with any of that, absolutley bang on in the criticism of AJ's team. Is it just me though or is Dave starting to sound a bit slurry? Worrying if so, he has had a few major hidings. He's the definition of too durable for his own good.

Agree with all of this. AJ is in a very dangerous position now, a bit like Price was after the first Thompson fight; if he loses to Ruiz Jnr again his boxing career at the top level is pretty much over. Price just assumed he had been unlucky and went into the rematch with exactly the same weaknesses and got sparked out again. Does Joshua have the ability and honesty to overcome his own glaring issues and the stylistic problems Ruiz Jnr poses? With his current set up I'm really not convinced. Of course we saw Lennox overcome a similar massive shock by blowing away Rahman second time around but Joshua patently is nothing like the boxer Lewis was. AJ and his entire team need a massive dose of realism to have any chance of getting the belts back. There's not really time between now and November to make the radical personnel changes required in the long term, but even if he does win the rematch, then going forward he clearly needs at least 9 months to a year with a new trainer before he considers a fight with Wilder or Fury. McCracken has taken him as far as he can imo, it was bizarre to see him abandon all the natural advantages he held in the fight in order to exchange with Ruiz Jnr. Even if McCracken was telling him to fight more astutely, Joshua clearly wasn't listening to him and the corner was confused and chaotic between virtually every round. He also needs to get a better nutritionist and change his s+c coaches to have any chance of the sort of career we had hoped he would have, because his physique is hampering rather than helping him atm.

Hahaha fantatstic.

Where to start. Horrible, horrible performance from Joshua. He didn't look right from the ringwalk on, really nervous and tight. The comparison with Bruno is obvious, he can't keep himself organised under pressure and sticks his chin in the air swinging for the rafters when buzzed a bit like Khan. Unless he avenges this defeat handily and learns serious lessons I'm afraid I vastly overestimated his skill and mentality. You have to say Wilder or Fury would destroy him on that evidence All of that takes absolutely nothing away from Ruiz Jnr who was as game as **** and fought the perfect fight. He has taken his chance brilliantly, fair play to him. I watched with a mate who would have won over 5k on Ruiz Jnr if round 3 had been a bit longer, it was bedlam haha. Sorry neighbours.

Oof haha

Matchroom scorecard deluxe.