The Red Corner: Ruiz is the heavyweight champion - deal with it

Andy Ruiz Jr. shocked the world when he finished Anthony Joshua in the seventh-round of their heavyweight title fight on June 1.

In front of a massive crowd at Madison Square Garden, Ruiz had eaten some shots but managed to score a few knockdowns throughout the fight. He scored a beautiful hit behind Joshua's ear to stop the fight and the British boxer's heavyweight championships. Ruiz celebrated - and he has every right to as he became the first Mexican boxer to win a world heavyweight title.

While Ruiz's knockout win was an upset, it was not as shocking to educated combat sports fans as say, Holly Holm knocked out Ronda Rousey to win the UFC women's bantamweight title. 

Ruiz, who took the fight on short notice, came into the fight at 33-1 along with an impressive amateur resume. He has power, a tough chin and is deceptively quick. 

Although boxing fans and Ruiz's peers celebrated his accomplishment, casual folks and analysts were not as pleased to see a new champion emerge from MSG. 

Many critics poked fun at Ruiz's body, which appeared more like an average "dad bod" as opposed to the ripped figure of Joshua. Tony Atlas poked fun, saying Ruiz's win "set physical fitness back by a 1,000 years." Yet other fighters and fans who are round like Ruiz found inspiration in his win. In watching combat sports, I can tell you fighters, especially heavyweight contenders, have 6-8 packs and "24-inch pythons."

Other folks were upset because Ruiz's win over Joshua spoiled for the potential superfight between the latter and fellow heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder. Fight fans have been foaming at the mouth to watch Wilder and Joshua clash and Ruiz took that fight away from them - a fight that was never officially signed.

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith's was one pundit who delivered a knee-jerk reaction via Twitter, insulting Ruiz's weight and lamenting about how fans will have to wait for Joshua-Wilder. In another tweet, he complimented Ruiz's boxing and emphasized he was more upset about the potential Wilder-Joshua fight being shelved. 
Ruiz responded to Smith's tweet by encouraging the ESPN analyst to do his research before insulting his career - a fair response.

The problem with the reaction of Smith and others who were set on seeing Joshua-Wilder correlates with something that irks me about today's sports fandom.

One of the things I love about sports is that it's unpredictable and underdogs will prevail over the unbeatable foe. People like underdogs, yet seem to have this notion about how certain playoffs, games and scenarios should end, much like TV shows. When their predictions don't pan out, they sulk about "what could have been" and the ending they wanted to see. 

During this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament, there was this microscope on Duke and Zion Williamson and fans believed the Blue Devils would make it all the way to the finals - then the Blue Devils lost to Michigan State in the regional finals.

Even though the Final Four was set with Michigan State,  Texas Tech, Virginia and Auburn, people were still hung up about Duke and how Zion didn't get to play in the finals.

A more recent example happened during the NBA Playoffs. After the Los Angeles Lakers failed to qualify, people were still asking about LeBron James and what would happen if the Lakers were in the tournament. Different events, such as Magic Johnson leaving the Lakers and the Houston Rockets' audit of the NBA's referees cooled down the "LeBron Fever."

In boxing, people are so upset about losing the Joshua-Wilder fight - which was never official in the first place - that they could care less about Ruiz and his potential title reign.

This scenario is similar to when James "Buster" Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson in 1990 - spoiling the potential match between "Iron Mike" and Evander Holyfield. Douglas would lose the title to Holyfield, who would face Tyson in 1996.

So if you're foaming at the mouth for Joshua-Wilder, you'll probably have to wait a bit longer - if it even happens. For now, let's focus on Ruiz and give him an opportunity to show the world he can be a good champion. 

Boxing's heavyweight division is in a great spot, and it just added another potential star with Ruiz.