Emeka Igbo
The June 1, 2019 will remain a very sad day for boxing fans in Nigeria. Sad because on that fateful day, an underdog heavyweight boxing challenger called Andy Ruiz Junior, a Mexican overwhelmed our own Anthony Joshua knocking him out in round seven and went home with his IBF, WBA and WBO unified heavyweight boxing belts that were at stake. That bout was certainly one of the greatest boxing upsets in recent times.
In the history of heavyweight boxing, upsets are abound and examples include Mohammed Ali defeat of Sony Liston (1964), Mohammed Ali defeat of George Forman (1974) nicknamed “Rumble in the Jungle”, Buster Douglas defeat of Mike Tyson (1990), Leon Spinks defeat of Mohammed Ali (1978). Coming home to our local clime, one will always remember the demolition of our then highly rated Olympic poster boy, Jerry Okorodudu in a light heavyweight contest by an unknown Joe Lasisi of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) in one of his first professional bouts where he out boxed our flamboyant Okorodudu in all departments of boxing. I am to add that a week after Lasisi/Okorodudu fight, I visited the National Sport Institute hostel situated at the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos then with my little cousin, Tochukwu Igbo who is presently a practicing pharmacist to see Okorodudu. When I greeted him, the little boy innocently asked whether he had an accident. The bout was so bad for Okorodudu that he suffered a broken arm trying to defend himself from barrages of punches from the unknown Joe Lasisi who later became an Africa champion, had a short at world title in his weight category and lost.
Boxing upsets do occur as we have seen in several occasions where challengers knocked out champions as in the case of Anthony Joshua. What makes a good boxer is the ability of one to bounce back to limelight after a defeat or set-back. There is no doubt in my mind that our own Anthony Joshua is going to tow this line and bring joy to his fans across the globe once again. As we approach the rematch date of the epic fight on December 7, 2019 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, I must acknowledge the fighting spirit of Andy Ruiz Junior and I want to warn Joshua to be extra careful of the Mexican in the rematch bout. Frankly speaking, Andy is a careful and fearless boxer who knows when to throw destabilizing punches on opponents such as the punch that did the damage in round three which was the prelude to Joshua’s final knockout in the seventh round. The Mexican was never afraid and his confidence throughout the bout was extra-ordinary as he kept on coming after Joshua. With his former flabby body which one rarely finds in heavyweight boxers, the accuracy of his punches to targets, speed, stamina and strength in that encounter with Joshua was highly commendable. Who knows how these attributes would have increased now that he has turned those fats to muscles. The fact that the Mexican boxer accepted the fight within one month notice to replace Miller who was dropped for failing the drug test and was able to knockout a reigning champion, collecting the unified WBO, IBF and WBA heavyweight titles at stake is a clear indication that Andy Ruiz Junior has something to offer the boxing World. To our own Joshua, he has promised to bounce back and regain his three boxing titles. Can Joshua really reclaim these titles presently in the custody of Ruiz Junior? I think he can do it with a lot of determination and hard work. In his renewed quest to regain his titles in this rematch bout, there is need for him to know the issues at stake. He will be fighting a reigning champion with access to better training opportunities, sparring partners, improve medical facilities and coaching crew. Information has it that Andy has bought himself a house, Roll Royce car and had audience with the Mexican President. He is really enjoying all the glamour as a champion. I hope the ex-champion will understand what this means in modern boxing? It means that the reigning champion will be working very hard not to go down easily.
As we go for the rematch in Saudi Arabia, we all should acknowledge the fact that Joshua underrated Andy in their first encounter and we saw how he paid dearly for it. In boxing, an underdog can spring a surprise. In his bid to regain his boxing titles, there is need for Joshua and his team to ensure that his rematch bid is crowned with success. He needs all the concentration to comfortably win this rematch bout.
If the rumour going round that Joshua’s father and Manager had disagreements before and after the fight on strategies to deploy in their first encounter is true, then there is need to address that for a united front on the day of rematch. Joshua’s camp should be very careful in changing tactics. Instead, they should improve on his existing system of delivering especially his powerful right hand which is also a weapon of mass destruction. His coaching has claimed they have improved on his footwork so that he can frequently and comfortably move around the ring so as to throw more devastating jabs on his opponent.
The good thing is that he claimed he has worked on his psychology claiming the loss was lesson and a relief. Not surprised when he said that he will ‘reign again.’ He should also try to avoid intimate close boxing with Andy Ruiz Junior to avoid those ‘lucky punches’ that destabilized him in their first outing.
There is need also for the coaching crew to get good sparring partners for Joshua especially those with Andy’s height and fighting style as this will build up his stamina and further improve on his skills to address counter punches which is one of Andy’s assets. In deploying all the machinery towards ensuring that Joshua captures all his three titles back, his camp must not fail to work out a strategy for the acclimatization of their ward to the hot Saudi weather which is the opposite of that of London where Joshua resides.
The Andy Ruiz Junior versus Anthony Joshua rematch bout will no doubt be a test case for our new dynamic and young Minister for Youths and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare. He has to mobilize and ensure federal presence on the day of the encounter so as to encourage and cheer Joshua up for vi ctory. In the same vein, the Dangotes, Otedolas and Adenugas as patriotic Nigerians can help in sponsoring people to give Joshua the moral support to win. We all as Nigerians look forward to Anthony Joshua versus Deotoy Wilder fight to know the undisputed World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
Igbo, a sportier, kid boxer and retired Deputy Comptroller of Customs, writes from Lagos