SIMPLICITY IS GENIUS FOR JOSHUA
AJ sticks to hit-and-run plan to join ranks of the two-time world champs
THE Thrillah In Diriyah, this was not. No Jungle out here in the desert. No Rumble, either. Not even a sandstorm in Arabia. Simply a job meticulously planned and perfectly executed.
Through what was left of Saturday night and all day Sunday, Anthony Joshua was absolutely entitled to celebrate gaining entry to the esteemed ranks of two-time world heavyweight champions before, as he put it, returning quickly to the grind.
This is one of sport’s special feats and Joshua earned that distinction by virtue of his astute redemption of one of the ring’s great upsets.
As he tried to point out, recovery of all the belts he carelessly allowed the corpulent Andy Ruiz Jnr to strip from him in New York was not easy. It was only made to look that way by a long and lonely six months of soul-searching and self-sacrifice.
‘I had to learn from suffering,’ he said. ‘I had to lock myself away. Remind myself of all the commitment it takes to succeed in this sport. I had to learn that I still love boxing. hard as it is. That it’s all I have. It’s what I am.’
Not everyone was listening. Not the more preening of his professional critics. Not the frothing mob on the internet. By the one extreme, he is mocked for concentrating more on his brutal task than on denouncing the barbarism of the regime under whose aegis he was fighting. By the other, he is foul-mouthed for putting the necessity of resurrecting his career above their vicarious blood-lust.
What more do they expect of a street fighter who has festooned his country with Olympic gold and world titles and been courteous while about it?
If the British government cannot unravel itself from the sophistry of selling billions of pounds worth of arms to the Saudi kingdom, how should he?
If the punters find so tedious the watchful manner in which he jabbed and dodged himself back into eminence, would they rather he had risked another defeat on the throwing of punches like dice?
Both constituencies choose to forget that the most formative of Joshua’s 30 years were spent turning around a life begun in gang-land. Which is why he was more forgiving of Ruiz succumbing to the indulgent, fattening temptations of sudden celebrity.
Ruiz said to his father and his trainer: ‘I’m sorry I didn’t train properly. I’m sorry I was overweight. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. It won’t happen again.’ Joshua said to him: ‘We all have issues the first time we win a world title.’
In part that was spoken in gratitude. By springing his sensation, Ruiz unlocked the $85million in oil money which boosted Joshua’s income from the two fights to $100m.
That moved Joshua to talk in terms of a trilogy with the first Mexican ever to become world heavyweight champion.
Ruiz, who banked $ 13m, expressed the hope that might mean a return to Saudi Arabia. Sorry Andy, that third fight won’t be happening any time soon. If ever.
Ruiz blew it with a self- confessed three months of partying. Few would want to see the reprise of such an uncompetitive fight. even fewer would pay to watch him in this physical condition. Nor is it by any means certain that Saudi Arabia will welcome the return of big-time boxing for a while.
The way Joshua lost weight so as to gain quickness and mobility to offset the speed with which Ruiz surprised him before was essential to the game plan but not exciting to witness. Given the scarcity of British fans in that hastily erected 15,000 capacity arena, the locals amused themselves by taking sides and chanting against each other.
Joshua said: ‘I love nothing more than a dust-up but in the position I was in the win had to come first and there are two sides to this game. I can knock people out but I also understand the sweet science of hitting without being hit back.’
So instead of trading blows it was stick and move, hit and run. It was repetitive, monotonous even. That it worked as a means to the essential end was evident on the scorecards. One of 119-109, two of 118-110 which matched my reckoning of 10 rounds to two for AJ. Ruiz hardly laid a glove on him.
‘Maybe I could have done more at times but simplicity is genius. I took it back to the old school, seventies style, and outclassed the current champion.’
That was an endorsement of his longtime trainer Rob McCracken, for whose head some had been calling since the mishap in Manhattan.
Never before has Joshua appeared in such a hyper-intensive state before a fight. how he responded instantly from the first bell with such fluency and focus only he knows.
So light-footed was he, unencumbered now by over-pumped muscle, that some of the movement was reminiscent of Ali. Not the genuine article but an impersonation decent enough for him to howl in triumph at the halfmoon which emerged on cue.
By its light he spied another Aladdin’s cave. One filled with such treasures as championship fights with Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder. So who got the prediction right?
‘Most important,’ he said, ‘is to remain as humble in victory as you are in defeat.’ Tell me. With Anthony Joshua, what’s not to like?