Andy Ruiz Jr. is doing exactly what a lot of people thought he should do after his demolition of Anthony Joshua in June: more of the same.
Ruiz stunned the boxing world by putting Joshua down four times before stopping him in the seventh round at Madison Square Garden in New York. His main objective for the rematch Saturday in Saudi Arabia has been fine tuning.
“The same thing,” Ruiz said when asked what he has done differently in this camp. “Training, making some adjustments, but we got all the tools, all the same things. So we’re focused mentally and ready for December 7.”
Many people have suggested that Ruiz (33-1, 22 knockouts) will have a massive psychological edge over Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) in the second fight because of his dominance in the first one.
That’s not how the Mexican-American is approaching the rematch.
“I could (have an advantage),” he said, “but I don’t want to underestimate any fighter because I respect every fighter that comes into the ring. We all risk our lives here to provide for our loved ones, so I’m just excited for Saturday to have a really good fight.”
And a really good victory.
“I didn’t want show off too much on what we’re working on,” he said. “I wanted to give a little mix there. We’ve been training really heard, working on different stuff, so (with) the speed, the pressure, the angles, everything we’ve been working on, hopefully December 7 we will get that victory.”