By Aragon Garcia: Andy Ruiz Jr. (33-1, 22 KOs) made history in stopping heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) in the seventh round in front of a large crowd of onlookers on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. Ruiz Jr. shocked the world tonight in pulling an upset every bit as big as Buster Douglas’ stoppage win over Mike Tyson many years ago.
Joshua had nothing left in the tank when the referee stopped the contest in the seventh round. Blood leaked from Joshua’s nose, he was exhausted, and not in condition to continue fighting if the referee had allowed the match to continue.
The win for the proud Ruiz Jr. makes him the first Mexican heavyweight world champion. Ruiz Jr. wants to take the three world titles that he won tonight to Mexico to show them off for his boxing fans.
It’s an incredible moment for Ruiz, who came into the fight tonight a huge underdog with nothing expected of him. Few fans thought Ruiz Jr. capable of winning the fight, but he SHOCKED the world in knocking Joshua down four times en route to winning the IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles.
Ruiz Jr. was down once in the fight courtesy of a left hook from Joshua in round three. That knocked down was the equivalent of Joshua waiving a red flag in front of an angry bull. Ruiz Jr. came to alive after the knockdown in the third. He the went after Joshua and opened up with heavy shots thrown one after another until he went down on the canvas.
Ruiz Jr. appeared surprised at seeing Joshua go down. But after he got up, Ruiz Jr. continued to pelt Joshua with punches, and succeeded in knocking him down a second time in the round.
Joshua was lucky to make it out of third round
After the second knockdown, Joshua was hurt. He tried smiling while he was down, but he was stunned and not with it. Everything was happening so fast. One moment Joshua looked like he was on his way to a third round knockout victory, and then the next instant he was on the canvas twice, hurt and on the verge of being stopped.
This wasn’t supposed to happen to Joshua. If there was a little more time left in round three, Joshua would have been knocked out. His punch resistance was gone, and Ruiz Jr. was gleefully teeing off on him like he was beating up someone that had no business being in the ring with him.
“I cant believe I just made my dream come true, the sky is the limit,” said Ruiz Jr. after his victory over Joshua. “That was the first time I’ve been down on the floor and it just made me stronger. I’m a Mexican warrior, I have that blood in me. I just made history for mexico!”
The shot that Joshua knocked Ruiz Jr. down with in the third round round have finished a lot of fighters. Ruiz Jr. showed a lot of heart, and excellent recuperative powers to get up, and continue fighting. Joshua probably thought Ruiz Jr. was done for the night, because he immediately looked to finish him with some hard shots. That’s what left Joshua open for a left hook that hurt him.
“Respect to Andy Ruiz Jr.” said Joshua. “Big respect to Andy Ruiz Jr. Sorry I let my fans down. Sorry I let my supporters down.”
An estimated 8,000+ British boxing fans showed up tonight at Madison Square Garden to root Joshua to victory. In looking at the long faces in the audience, the fans looked highly upset at what had happened to their hero Joshua.
Hearn: Joshua got sloppy
“AJ got sloppy, got hurt and never recovered,” said Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn after the fight. “Tonight belongs to Andy Ruiz Jr, we’ll make the rematch. AJ will rebuild, it’ll be a big rematch back in the UK, that’s a must-win fight.”
All the talk that Hearn had been doing in the past two weeks about this being a fight that Joshua would win 100%, it blew up in his face. So confident of a Joshua victory, Hearn had been talking up a fight between him and Deontay Wilder. It surprising that a promoter would take an opponent so lightly, but Hearn was judging Ruiz Jr. by his appearance rather than by how good of a fighter he is. This wasn’t a bodybuilding contest. Joshua would have wiped Ruiz Jr. out if the two fighters were judged on which of them had the better physique. Ruiz Jr. is a born fighter, not a piece of sculpture. Hearn learned his lesson tonight that it’s important not to look passed opponents.
As you can see, Hearn’s view of Ruiz Jr’s win tonight was, he took advantage of Joshua being “sloppy”, and hurt him. That’s not what appeared to happen in the fight. Ruiz Jr. was tougher than Joshua, and his hand speed too fast for him to deal with. Before tonight,
In talking about Joshua rebuilding, Hearn didn’t say whether he’ll have AJ take a tune-up fight before he sets up the rematch with Ruiz Jr. in the UK. It might be a little risky for Joshua to face the 29-year-old Ruiz Jr. straightaway in his next fight, but if Hearn wants to gamble, he can do that. That might be in his best interest to at least wait until Joshua has a confidence booster to help him come back mentally from the loss.
Andy Ruiz Jr. is about to hit the jackpot with rematch with Joshua
Ruiz Jr. will make a lot of money in his rematch with Joshua. The victory for Ruiz Jr. tonight was the equivalent of him winning the lottery. He’s getting a second fight with Joshua, and they’ll almost surely be on better terms than tonight’s fight. If Ruiz Jr. can beat Joshua in the rematch, then he can setup additional big money fights against Wilder and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Joshua won’t dare take a third fight with Ruiz Jr. if he loses the rematch. He wouldn’t be naive enough to make a third fight with Ruiz Jr., because his career would be finished if he lost three straight fights to him. It’s risky for Joshua to even take a second fight against Ruiz, because he has his number. He showed that tonight. It would be better for Hearn to take Joshua in another direction for now, and come back later in a year or two down the road and try and put the rematch with Ruiz Jr. together at that time.