Anthony Joshua is back on the win column after exacting revenge on Andy Ruiz Jr in their highly-anticipated rematch in Saudi Arabia.
Ruiz Jr. and Joshua met for the second time around at the Clash on the Dunes for the re-run of their June 1 showdown.
Pulling off the biggest upset in boxing to date, the Mexican-American knocked out Joshua in the seventh round last June to capture the unified WBA (super), WBO, IBF, and IBO heavyweight belts.
Expecting a different game plan from his challenger, ‘The Destroyer’ has vowed to have answer on AJ’s firepower.
“We’ve been training on being small, being more slick, applying pressure, throwing combinations and being first to the punch,” Ruiz Jr said, per The Guardian.
“I know he is going to try to box me around, that’s why he has lost some weight. He’ll try to keep me away with the jab but that’s exactly what we’ve been practising for.”
“I want him to be mad and swinging in the ring, I want him to have that attitude because I will be calm and know exactly what we need to do.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5vBZZuFxKJ/
Big Business
Meanwhile, Joshua, who suffered his first ever professional boxing defeat earlier this year, has undergone drastic physical transformation for the rematch.
Having his lightest weight in five years, the British boxer is confident he will get the win this time.
“It will definitely be catastrophic if I lose but I’m not even thinking about losing anyway,” Joshua told Boxing Scene.
“It will be big business when I win. As bad as it would be when I lost, is as great as it will be when I win. It’s just opposites.”
“I need to keep focusing on the keys to win.”
“I had time to think. That’s when I really started studying boxing again and what it means. What I’m doing, where I’m going and what I want out of it.”
“I’m not nervous at all, I’m confident.”
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Disciplined
Despite losing the first fight, Joshua was billed as the favourite to win the rematch.
And on Saturday night, the vengeful British boxer lived up to expectations as he showed excellent boxing skills to defeat Ruiz Jr by way of unanimous decision, 118-110, 118-110, and 119-109.
A more focused and more disciplined Joshua showed up, keeping Ruiz Jr at bay through twelve rounds.
The rematch wasn’t as exciting as many fans thought it would be but Joshua executed the right game plan to recapture the heavyweight titles.
AJ joined Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, and Floyd Patterson as the only heavyweights to reclaim the world title in a direct rematch.
Check out some of the highlights from the rematch in the videos below:
Ruiz cut in the 1st round by Anthony Joshua. Brutal ! #RuizJoshua2 pic.twitter.com/QYmMuqEOuO
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) December 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/DAZN_USA/status/1203433789659262981
Watch how Ruiz’s head snaps back here from AJ’s jab in round 11 #RuizJoshua2 pic.twitter.com/dUNuzFA2kL
— Harry Zahn (@harry_zahn) December 7, 2019
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr.)