Anthony Joshua has been warned against taking a ‘dangerous’ immediate rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr by Spencer Oliver. In fact, the former European super-bantamweight champion suggested a second defeat to the Mexican could be the end of Joshua’s career.
The Olympic Gold medallist was comfortably beaten and left bloodied and battered on the Madison Square Garden canvas on four occasions earlier this month. Ruiz, a last-minute replacement for Jarrell Miller, proved to be too quick on the inside and his destructive counter-punching and tremendous fortitude allowed him to pull off a sensational upset.
Although Joshua has returned to training for a rematch later this year, the former WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion was warned by Oliver against taking such a risky fight.
“He’s just coming back after being away, just to start his training hand stuff,” he told Jim White on talkSPORT. “Listen, he wants the fight again.
“I think it’s a dangerous move, I really do. I think he is going to have a lot of demons going into that fight.
“Ruiz Jr is going to have been elevated to another level – he’s not going to want to let that title go.
“It’s going to be a tough, tough night for Anthony Joshua and we are really going to find out what he is made of.
“He wants it, he doesn’t want to go through that warming up process with another couple of fights or whatever. But Anthony Joshua really is a brand.
“And when you have become a brand, a loss is really, really damaging. Another loss could be career-ending because he will lose all that marketability.
“Does he really want to be mixing it at that lower level? I don’t just think he is the face of boxing, he is the face of sport.”
Oliver is the latest in a long list of esteemed boxing pundits who have urged the 29-year-old not to take the fight against Ruiz.
Given there was so much controversy and so many conspiracies surrounding Joshua’s performance in New York, David Haye, Bob Arum, George Groves and Carl Froch have all suggested Joshua should take another fight.
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