By Tim Parsons-
Former world heavyweight champion, David Haye has wisely and subliminally suggested a few warm up fights for Anthony Joshua before his rematch with Andy Ruiz Jnr who dethroned the Londoner on June 1, ending his unbeaten run of 22 fights.
Eddie Hearns immediately announced a rematch fight for the end of the year , around November or December, and many of his fans believe he will get his belts back next time round. with most convinced there was something wrong with AJ in Newyork.
David Haye, a retired boxer and current promoter, is jumping to no conclusions, but believes Joshua has to do some soul searching in deciding what his next step should be. Haye who held world title belts at both the Cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions told talk Sports’: “If AJ wanted to take a couple of fights before Andy Ruiz, I don’t think that’d be the worst thing to do.
“But if he believes in his heart he has what it takes to win in the rematch straight away, then I believe he goes for it, he should just do it.
“If he’s got question marks still, if he doesn’t know what happened, if he felt good going into that fight and he just lost like he lost, then there needs to be some adjustments made.”
Andy Ruiz Sends Admired AJ Crashing through the ropes.
VERY GOOD
Haye’s advice is very good and should be taken seriously by Anthony Joshua. He should not go straight into the rematch with less than solid confidence. At least one warm up fight will be a good idea, if as Eddie Hearns says, there was absolutely nothing wrong with Joshua on the night of his surprise defeat. A number of observers have noted that Joshua did not look himself before the fight and left many shocked in the way he was defeated. A second defeat to Ruiz will be the end of Joshua’s impressive journey, and will reduce him to a much ordinary name in the sport than when he was world champion and before that.