?If there?s a good loser in boxing, I?d love to fight him every week.??Former middleweight champion Gene Fullmer
Saturday night at New York?s Madison Square Garden, in one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight history, Andy Ruiz Jr. (33-1, 22 KOs), the underdog?s underdog from Imperial, California, dethroned formerly undefeated Anthony Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs), the reigning and defending WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO heavyweight champion from London, England, at 1:27 of round seven of a scheduled 12.
A midget among giants, a man among men, Ruiz was a late replacement armed with few advantages beside an ability to box and killer instinct. Having already lost the body beautiful contest by a wide margin, Ruiz fought like he had nothing to lose. After being knocked down by Joshua in the third, the first blow of the axe in the expected decapitation, Ruiz got to his feet and returned the favor, twice. The festivities had just begun, and Joshua was already on Queer Street.
Fighting out of the blue corner, Joshua looked like Adonis. Hollywood couldn?t have crafted a more cinematic boxing ideal. Slim, muscular, perfectly sculpted, perfectly composed from head to toe, he looked one part man, one part machine, and every inch an overachiever. However charming a testament to hard work Joshua may be, it?s easy to forget he?s a Frankenstein monster refashioned from corporal conceits. He only resembles a boxer; at heart he is not a fighter. Clever matchmaking takes one so far. Eventually, the truth will be told. Joshua will be back. You can bet on it. But the house of cards lay in ruins.
Fighting out of the red corner, Andy Ruiz was born to fight. He fought everyone in every Podunk town from the time he was born. He used to dream of being champion back then. Later he dreamed of earning a living fighting. Then he dreamed of becoming heavyweight champion of the world and people laughed. A few brave souls praised Ruiz when no one was listening. But mostly it was Ruiz (and all of Mexico) who believed in the fighter they call The Destroyer.
He certainly destroyed Joshua, whose performance was pitiful in every respect, especially coming from a world heavyweight champion in defense of his titles. Even before he began flopping to the canvas, Joshua?s indifference was inexcusable. His mind seemed half in the ring, half in some castle in the sky. He acted as if it was a sparring session, a show for the fans, a replay of a coronation of a king. Joshua must have imagined himself dancing around the ring like Ali. He would sting Ruiz with his jackhammer jab. He would avoid Ruiz?s rushes by moving mathematically. He would win the fight, win the crowd, he would dazzle New York City. But instead of using his height, reach, and supposedly superior athleticism to control pace and distance, Joshua botched preventing Ruiz from counterpunching his way inside where he had his way with the hapless champion with no defense.
Joshua couldn?t stop Ruiz. Alas he barely tried. The Londoner?s neat approach to the boxing didn?t serve him when it mattered. When push came to shove, Joshua stumbled. He acted like he?d never been hit before. He was clueless as to what to do. Lacking either the skills or ring intelligence or wherewithal to simply fight back, those who wondered how Joshua would respond under pressure now know. Maybe it came too fast. The heavens opened, God showered gold upon him, and it was good. Maybe it went to his head. Maybe he can?t take a punch. Moving like a lumbering weightlifter, he landed a few bombs, but Ruiz shook them off and kept coming.
Joshua?s fall from grace, from a strictly boxing standpoint, was a thing to behold. Upsets are always welcome, and more so at this scale. We?re grateful for anything that disrupts the brutal sameness. From beneath the underdog to unified world heavyweight champion of the world is a journey few men make and Ruiz will make the most of it. He hasn?t been pampered. He wasn?t groomed for superstardom. He won?t rest on his laurels. He won?t start referring to himself in the third person. He?s been fighting since he?s been eight years and he?s been fighting ever since. There?s no reason to stop now.
Joshua took the loss in stride. He was as gracious in defeat as he has been in victory, a perfect gentleman in every respect. His unblemished record may have vanished like perfume in the wind, but his personality remains undimmed. Earning a gold star as the ultimate good loser on top of everything else, Joshua was all you could ask for and more. In the ring after the defeat he was full of good cheer, smiling, hugs, kisses, compliments?he beamed positivity out into the world. It was a pleasant change from the snarling and shouting, but Joshua looked less like a man who had just lost the lion?s share of the heavyweight titles than a sales genius or self-help guru.
But it was Ruiz?s night. No one should forget it. The little guy overcoming insurmountable odds has been spun a million ways and all of them are true. Ruiz did not achieve the impossible, but he achieved the unlikely, and he single-handedly restored, for the moment, in the most uncompromising way possible, faith in mankind and the sport of boxing.
