It may not have been the most exciting fight in the heavyweight division, but Anthony Joshua won’t care. He put on a tactical clinic against Andy Ruiz to win by decision in Saudi Arabia. This fight was a rematch after Ruiz stunned the world to become the first Mexican heavyweight champion.

The narrative going into this one was whether or not Joshua was done. Was this just a blip? Or did Ruiz have Joshua’s number? The two men looked drastically different on the scales. ‘AJ’ came in lighter than the last time, while Ruiz came in even heavier.

Joshua answered these questions with a technical performance. He executed the perfect strategy to get the win, even if it wasn’t very exciting to watch. Now he’s the champion of the world again. Will we finally get him in one of the big fights now with Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury? This is boxing so only time will tell.

Masterclass

In their last fight, Ruiz was able to go to the body before punching the head. Joshua’s plan was to stay on the outside and jab. He executed it masterfully. The champ wasn’t able to get near Joshua which led to an unexciting fight but a very professional performance from Joshua. Before the fight, he had said, “I’m here to win, not to put on a show.” That was very much on evidence.

Finally, he got the win with two judges scoring the fight 118-112. The other scored it 119-111. It was a dominant victory and now he can move forward again towards bigger things. The pressure on Joshua was massive this week. Losing would effectively have stalled his career.

Mindset

Joshua explained his mindset going into this one. He has no regrets about the way he went about this fight. Why would he? Now, he’s a two-time heavyweight champion as he regained the WBA, WBO and IBF titles. Suddenly, he has power again. However, neither Fury nor Wilder will be too worried about him.

“I make no excuses. My boy [Dereck] Chisora said I could do this if I was willing to d-i-e [but] this is boxing,” Joshua said. “I gave Ruiz his credit in the first fight. There is no excuses. I respect Andy and his trainer so much but I wanted to put on a great master class and show that the sweet science of this sport is about hitting and not getting hit.

“Yeah, I know that my fans like to see me knock people out and I can do that but sometimes with certain fighters, you have to box smarter,” said Joshua. “I understand what Andy brought to the table so I had to decapitate him in a different way.”

Waste

As for Ruiz, you sense that this was a wasted opportunity by the Mexican-American.  He rose from obscurity to beat the champ. But packing on the pounds for the rematch was a bad move. His lack of preparation was evident and cost him the chance to be box office in the coming years. He tried to call for a trilogy fight but it’s unlikely to happen.

“It was his night. I don’t think I prepared how I should, I gained too much weight. But I have no excuses,” Ruiz said. “But if we do a third fight, I’m going to get in the f—ing best shape of my life. I thought I was going to feel stronger and be better but next fight I’m going to be prepared. I tried to train myself for this preparation but I don’t want to give no excuse. Anthony Joshua did a hell of a job.”

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