Andy Ruiz Jr. said after he was embarrassed by Anthony Joshua in their rematch Saturday that he didn’t train properly for the fight.
That might or might not be true – although it apparently was – but excuses don’t go over well in boxing. Joshua, who regained his titles by a wide decision in Saudi Arabia, made light of Ruiz’s comments but they obviously didn’t sit well with him.
“I would have loved to have trained the way Andy trained,” joked Joshua, speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. “I would’ve loved that, but that’s not the way of a champion. Andy can say all these things, but he knew he had a fight, and he knew the best way to prepare.
“Unfortunately it didn’t go his way and I’m sure he can make those changes, and learning life’s lessons come in different forms. And Andy’s was in the form of a loss as well (as mine). He knows his mistakes, whatever they were or maybe they’re excuses. He just needs to go out there and get it right and come back again.”
Ruiz overwhelmed in their first fight, in June, putting Joshua down four times and stopping him in seven rounds in a stunning upset to take the titles.
Afterward, evidently, he was more interested in living the highlife of someone who had just gained great fame and fortune instead maintaining the life of a professional boxer.
Ruiz weighed in Friday at 283.7 pounds, roughly 15 more than in their first fight.
“We started training too late,” he said. “I don’t want to say that the three months of partying and celebrating affected me but to tell you the truth, it kind of did.”
Meanwhile, Joshua, obviously determined to save his career, worked hard in training camp. He came in about 10 pounds lighter than in the first fight, which presumably made him quicker and more agile.
He thoroughly outboxed Ruiz to regain his titles and prestige, proving wrong those people who thought he’d never recover from the June beating. Now, he says, it’s Ruiz’s job to prove his critics wrong.
“No excuses for the last time,” Joshua said, “and I don’t want anybody to write Andy off. He’s a great former champion, and he done well, and he beat me fair and square. Sometimes you just have to recheck yourself, and that comes in many different forms, and mine was in a loss, and this time I was really concentrated on my job.
“I just didn’t listen to these so-called boxing experts who claimed that I wouldn’t be able to reclaim my belts. It’s dangerous going straight into a rematch – not many heavyweights have been able to reclaim their belts – but I believed in my team. I kept my same team that everyone told me to get rid of, and I feel like loyalty proves strength and we went out there and proved how good we really are now.”