As the pair faced off two days prior to this epic encounter, Joshua gave Ruiz Jr two of his world titles to hold – little did he know that the unfancied chubby Mexican would be holding all four of them, four knockdowns and one huge embarrassment later.
Only Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson’s losses to Hasim Rahman and Buster Douglas rival the magnitude of this heavyweight upset, which left ringside experts gobsmacked and the 8,000 travelling fans from Britain in sheer disbelief.
After flooring Ruiz Jr in the third round with a fierce left hook, memories of his turbulent win over Wladimir Klitschko were evoked when the underdog fired back with a stinging flurry of shots which put Joshua on his backside.
As the Watford fighter trawled around the ring like a wounded giraffe, Ruiz was relentless with clout behind every blow. After another series of lefts, down went AJ again.
“What’s he going to do?” Josuha asked Andy Ruiz when he came out for the seventh round. Two further knockdowns and the wave of a Michael Griffin hand later, it was all over.
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Joshua was late out of his dressing room as Ruiz Jr waited nervously in the ring, his countenance akin to a schoolboy who had arrived early for a detention.
A slick white gown adorned the broad shoulders of AJ when he cantered through the crowds, contrasted by jet black gloves which everyone thought would predicate the ensuing seven rounds – there was supposed to be no grey area here.
It was a tentative start from the Brit, though, who allowed Ruiz Jr to walk him down without much sting thanks to the range-keeping jab. Those six minutes gave no warning to the three which were about to follow.
Keen to assert himself on the compact, lighting-handed Mexican, Joshua loaded up a combination which culminated in a rocking left hook which rendered his plucky opponent to the canvas.
In the build-up Joshua said he would retire if he was to undergo another bout akin to his coming-of-age knockout win over Wladimir Klitschko in April 2017, in which he floored the bulky Ukrainian only to then feel the apron the following round.
More to follow…