By Tim Royner: Andy Ruiz Jr. has quickly responded to Anthony Joshua’s comment from earlier today in which he said he could “whoop” him in Tijuana, Mexico with his uncle as the referee for the fight. Ruiz returned fire at former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Joshua by saying, “Let’s run it in Mexico.”
Joshua’s fans are against him fighting Ruiz in Mexico or the United States. Collectively, they feel that it’s only fair that Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs) returns the favor by defending his newly won world titles in the UK, since Joshua fought him in the U.S last June in New York.
What the fans fail to realize is the venue was on the East Coast, which is an eight-hour flight and over 2,600 miles away from Ruiz’s home territory in Imperial Valley, California. For all intents and purposes, Joshua’s fight with Ruiz last June was in the UK. The audience at Madison Square Garden was overwhelmingly Joshua fans, who came from the New York area or made the flight from the UK.
Ruiz Jr. wants Joshua to prove that he can “whoop” him in Mexico
“AJ says he can “whoop” me in Tijuana prove it let’s run it in Mexico. Remember that you did have a huge reason to come to America and that was to build your profile. #Ruiz🤖2 #cherrypickgonewrong,” said @Andy_destroyer1.
As the unified champion, Ruiz should be able to call the shots as to where the venue for the rematch with Joshua takes place. It’s nice that Joshua volunteered to face Ruiz Jr. in the United States last June in New York, but he didn’t do that out of selfless reasons. Joshua had a goal in mind by facing Ruiz in the U.S. Joshua wanted to win over American boxing fans, because it would be a huge market for him. The experiment backfired for Joshua with Ruiz Jr. stopping him in the seventh round, and he no longer wants to fight in the States.
Here’s what Joshua said earlier on Tuesday to skysports.com about wanting to whoop Ruiz in Tijuana:
“I’d fight in Tijuana and Ruiz’s uncle could be the referee and I would still whoop him. Walking out in Cardiff in front of 70, 80, 90,000 people screaming and rooting for you to win, that type of energy that goes through your body is unstoppable, and I think that could give me that little bit of edge I need to win those belts. I’m going to battle for it to be in the UK, because it’s my stomping ground. I done one out there, so let’s do the rematch here,” said Joshua.
It sounds like Joshua feels he needs all the help he can get by having the rematch with Ruiz staged in the UK. Oh well, it would be the second home fight in a row for Joshua, because his match last June was in front of his own fans.