Source: UA Newsroom
Full disclosure, I recruited for Imperial Valley College basketball under Coach Nick Gehler. Some of my most exciting moments as a coach happened in Imperial Valley against Southwest and Brawley. I have an affinity for the Imperial Valley that makes me partial to Ruiz being a “fatboy from the desert”. I’m also prone to pulling for the underdog. So when Anthony Joshua entered the ring on Saturday, I didn’t even take the time to watch or find a way to watch. I understood the long history of Mexican fighters with strong chins, but I thought it was a foregone conclusion that AJ would finish Ruiz in late rounds as Ruiz wore down. I mean Anthony Joshua had all of the tech and training an athlete needs to prepare for the physical battle.
What I failed to consider is that appearances can be deceptive. Much like when Mike Tyson took on Buster Douglas in Tokyo, Anthony Joshua was in NYC away from England. After all of these years it’s been disclosed that Mike Tyson was on a binge with Bobby Brown the night before his match with Douglas. Tyson saw a heavier, slower, less known fighter and it’s possible that he didn’t expect the fight to go as long as it did.
Why am I making this comparison? This fight looked almost exactly like Tyson and Douglas.
While I’ve stated over and over that UA tends to do a poor job of promoting their product and athletes, the company has been making a considerable change all around and that included some solid build up to the fight. What happens though when your athlete loses? We know that UA let Canelo walk. Which left all of their boxing eggs in AJ’s basket. Those eggs were cracked and cooked on Saturday night.
What moves should Under Armour be making to counter a horrible loss by one of its athletes? I’d typically write my answer here, but this time I want to leave it as a question to be pondered.