Andy ruiz vs joshua series#

Then near the end of the third, Ruiz connected with a heat-seeking right that knocked Joshua down and partially through the ropes, only for the champion to will himself upright on sheer instinct before getting saved by the bell.Īnthony Joshua tries to make it to his feet during referee Mike Griffin’s count after he was knocked down during the seventh round.

Andy ruiz vs joshua series#

Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) made it to his feet but Ruiz resumed the chase around the ring, battering the champion backward toward his own corner with a series of uncontested punches. Ruiz comfortably beat the count, refused to clinch when Joshua closed in for the finish, then connected with a right hand over the top amid a firefight in the center of the ring that sent the champion to the canvas against the run of play. “That was my first time getting dropped on the floor,” the challenger said. The widely preordained outcome appeared imminent in the third when Joshua sent Ruiz’s doughy 6ft 2in, 268lb frame to the deck with a left hook to the temple early in the round. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist, who’s emerged as one of boxing’s biggest superstars during a run of sold-out stadium shows in the UK, continued to measure distance into the second, scoring in occasional spots as Ruiz struggled to negotiate his way around the jab. Joshua’s physical advantages in height (four inches) and reach (eight) appeared even more ominous under the glare of the Garden lights as the chiseled 6ft 6in, 247lb champion spent the opening round fighting off the back foot while the challenger moved forward in pursuit. Talking about the Mexican fighting style, I just proved it.” “It’s because of the Mexican warrior I am,” said Ruiz, an Imperial Valley native and resident who spent time growing up in the border town of Mexicali and represented Mexico at the 2008 Olympic trials. Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs), who was only even in a position for the life-changing upset because Joshua’s original opponent, Brooklyn’s Jarrell Miller, failed three tests for different performance-enhancing drugs shortly after the match-up was announced, became the first fighter of Mexican descent to win a heavyweight title in the most dramatic fashion imaginable. I can’t believe I just made my dreams come true.” This is what I have been working hard for. “This is what I have been dreaming about. “I just feel so good, man,” said an elated Ruiz, who captured Joshua’s WBA, WBO and IBF belts in a stunner that ranks alongside Buster Douglas v Mike Tyson and James Braddock v Max Baer among the most seismic in the division’s centuries-spanning annals. Joshua was outboxed, out-toughed and beaten up on a night that turned boxing’s bellwether weight class on its ear. No lucky one-punch knockout that can be explained away by a silver-tongued promoter.