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Andy Ruiz Is In Best Shape Of His Life For Anthony Joshua

Andy Ruiz Is In Best Shape Of His Life For Anthony Joshua

Andy Ruiz Is In Best Shape Of His Life For Anthony Joshua

Andy Ruiz is in the best shape of his life for Anthony Joshua. He knows the pair’s rematch will be much tougher than their first bout.

Ruiz, 29, indicated this much during a session with reporters in Diriyah, on the outskirts of the Saudi capital Riyadh.

“I know Anthony Joshua is coming hard, and I know he is going to be preparing really good,” he said.

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“But so am I. I’m really hungry. A lot of people saying that I’m not training, that I’m not taking it serious. Come on, I got all these belts,” he continued.

“There’s a lot of responsibilities to this. And I’m going to win here in the same fashion as I did [before]. And I’m going to prove everybody wrong.”

Ruiz shocked the world in June of this year when he knocked Joshua out in the seventh round of their bout at Madison Square Garden.

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In addition to shocking odds makers and boxing fans alike, Ruiz also secured the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles with his victory.

Joshua immediately called for a rematch, and Ruiz granted him one.

The pair is set to meet on Dec. 7, 2019, in Saudi Arabia.

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Ruiz repeatedly hammered home to the media that he knows his reputation is on the line here.

He can either be a one-hit wonder or a real champion – and he is aware of that.

“I don’t want to just have 15 minutes of fame,” Ruiz said.

“I want it to last. I want to be a champion for more years. He’s going try to try to take these belts but we’re going to be training really hard for December.”

Ruiz also knows that he will face a different Joshua in the next fight.

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Heading into their first bout, Joshua did not take his opponent seriously.

That proved to be a big mistake, and led to one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.

In the third round of their first match, Joshua hit Ruiz with a clean shot that he clearly expected would end the fight.

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Instead Ruiz rose back up to his feet like it was nothing and began to take it to the defending champion.

Ruiz would go on to force Joshua to the canvas on multiple occasions in the third round – and it was a sign of things to come.

Over the next three rounds Ruiz more than held his own against Joshua’s advances, and in the seventh, he ended the fight for good.

With two and a half minutes remaining in the seventh round, Ruiz dropped Joshua with a series of heavy shots.

Joshua got up, only to be dropped again with one minute and fifty nine seconds remaining in the round.

When Joshua’s responses to the ref were deemed insufficient, Ruiz was awarded the victory.

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Ruiz knows that a win will not come as easily this time around.

“He’s more hungry,” he said.

“He wants his belts back. I want to train even harder, you know, because he’s training even harder too. I only had a month and a half to train for the first fight.

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“This time we have a whole camp so it benefits me as well. It’s going to be an explosive fight, two big heavyweights punching each other in the face.

“It’s going to be exciting.”

Carlos Garcia

A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.

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