Boxing stupidly decided to swap judge-
ment days for paydays. Boxing – or
rather, elite heavyweight boxing, the
glittering showcase of the sport – attempted
to keep the pay-per-view cash registers
ringing even as the best scrupulously avoided
fighting the best. Just when it seemed boxing
was on the cusp of a new golden age, it tried
to do what no sport can ever do: avoid true
competition. And it all ended in tears.
Andy Ruiz Jr tore up the script when he
dramatically flattened Anthony Joshua in
Madison Square Garden. And now we must
forget the fantasy – though it seemed so real!- that three great, undefeated heavyweight
champions were going to square off against
each other in a series of mouthwatering fights
to rival the mythic age when Muhammad
Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman beat
each other to the edge of human endurance
and beyond.
Anthony Joshua got battered by a little
fat bloke with man boobs who could employ
Homer Simpson as a body double. In truth,
there was always more to Ruiz Jr than the
Snickers-scoffing chubby chops he resem-
bles. The Mexican only has one defeat on a
34-fight record. But if Ruiz Jr is more than
a roly-poly journeyman he is less than an
elite heavyweight. Whatever way you spin
it, Joshua should have found a way to beat
him. And because he so spectacularly didn’t,
the big fights that fans crave will not happen
any time soon and perhaps never will. Boxing
bottled it.
“Joshua and his promoter, Eddie Hearn,
failed or refused to agree terms with Deontay
Wilder or Tyson Fury for showdown fights,”
wrote Paul Hayward in the Daily Telegraph.
“Instead they chose the easier path of puffing
him in America, with Madison Square Garden
as the first stop, so Joshua could attach
himself to that venue’s great tradition. All
you can say now is: that went well.”
Full credit to Ruiz Jr. How we chortled
when the Mexican said he was prepared to
die in the ring. Prepared to diet, more like!
Ho ho! We were told Ruiz Jr had quick hands.
Yes, especially at the hotel buffet! Yuk yuk!
But Ruiz Jr didn’t just beat Joshua in Madison
Square Garden, he beat him up. He shattered
AJ. It wasn’t a one-punch knockout, it was a
systematic destruction. But lest we forget, it
wasn’t just Anthony Joshua who was taking
fights that were expected to be an easy day
at the office.
Until Ruiz Jr waddled onto the world stage,
heavyweight boxing had three genuineworld champions: Anthony Joshua (IBO,
IBF, WBA and WBO), Tyson Fury (the lineal
champ) and Deontay Wilder (holder of the
WBC belt). Three true warriors, all exciting
in a different way – truly as diverse as Ali,
Frazier and Foreman.
Joshua was the new David Beckham, a
natural athlete who had transcended his
sport to become an icon for the modern male,
a gold medal Olympian, the former bad boy
turned national treasure, the nice guy with
the pitiless vicious streak when he sensed an
opponent weakening.
And Deontay Wilder – who turned
to boxing late in life (at 20 years of age,
ridiculously late to start) for quick money
when his daughter, Naieya, was born with
spina bifida – the most unorthodox of the
three but the one who hits the hardest,
the fighter who possibly smacks flesh and
bone harder than any man on the planet.
And Tyson Fury: mercurial, controversial,
oddly charming, totally fearless, ready to
take on anyone in their back garden. Fury,
who dances like no man that big should be
able to dance.
In the space of just four issues, GQ fea-
tured two heavyweight boxers on the
front cover. Joshua and his son, JJ, gracedStory by Tony ParsonsReal competition led to an all-English Champions League
final on the night AJ got beaten by a ‘bum’How boxing lost it and football got it backSportAnthony Joshua’s unexpected loss to Andy Ruiz Jr in New York in June foiled boxing’s plan to keep milking its three big hittersPhotographGetty Images09-19DropParsons.indd 118 03/07/2019 14:52
126 GQ.CO.UK SEPTEMBER 2019