Page 30 - LionKing

FEATURE
HOW COULD
AJ
LOSE?
It still feels like a very weird and unsatisfying dream and it really wasn’t supposed to be like this. Anthony
Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua was on a roll, undefeated in 22 fights, owner of 4 world title belts and the face of heavy weight boxing. Standing at 6′ 6′′ with Instagram model good looks, his fight against
Andy Ruiz was supposed to be a mere formality while the world waited for the much-anticipated fight with the WBC heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder. The brash American is a ferocious, hard- hitting puncher and the only thing standing between AJ and being the undisputed heavy weight champion of the World.
Before all that though, Joshua had to take care of his opponent, the Mexican Andy Ruiz, who wasn’t even supposed to have a chance against AJ. Ruiz is 6’2’’ and quite frankly has a Pillsbury Doughboy frame especially when compared to the chiseled AJ. The only reason he got the chance to
fight was because AJ’s original opponent, Brooklyn’s Jarrell Miller, failed three drug tests for different performance-enhancing drugs.
This was Joshua’s American debut and it was supposed to answer a lot of questions his critics had. They have always been skeptical about his achievements and
his alleged “glass chin”. This fight against the unfancied Andy Ruiz, was supposed to introduce him to the American boxing audience and launch his claim to world domination. Or so we all thought. A lot of people have always felt that AJ still has a lot to prove and their doubts were proven correct.
The actual fight itself was quite a strange event, everything seemed to be going as planned when Ruiz hit the deck in the 3rd round but he beat the count easily and it was all downhill from there for our man AJ. Ruiz fought back like a true champ and
connected a series of shots that rocked AJ. The mighty AJ with the 6-pack abs, millions of fans across the world and a string of multi-million Dollar endorsement deals, 26 to be exact. He has the backing of huge multi-national companies like Under Armour, Beats Electronics and Globacom. All of this is great but Andy Ruiz obviously did not read the script and now AJ has to pick up the pieces. He has let the Queen down, he let Prince William down, he let Ed Sheeran down, he let Stormzy down, he let Jeremy Clarkson down, he let the BBC down and most importantly, he let Adele down!!
The heavy weight boxing class has been turned on its head and the world wants
to know, what exactly happened to
AJ? Life’s funny because even though
AJ represents England, he has Nigerian parents and the country has adopted him as their own (even though Nigeria played no part in his boxing development and/
30 | The Lion King | April - June 2019
By Olaoluwa Osidele
“
AJ is looking to
bounce back pretty soon. He believes: “Don’t let success
get to your head or failure get to your heart.”