Joshua punches way into Hall of Fame

‘Simplicity is genius’ says Anthony Joshua as he savours victory over Andy Ruiz Jr


On a night when a storm raged across the Saudi Arabian desert, Nigerian-born British boxer, Anthony Joshua becalmed the Mexican tempest in front of him to make history – and a whole lot of money – by regaining his WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles. He made history as the first heavyweight to win a fight in any Middle East nation. But after his wide points victory over Andy Ruiz Jr, Joshua risked more controversy after being criticised by human rights groups by using the word “decapitate” when talking to the US broadcaster DAZN in a post-fight press conference. Job done and better days to come for Anthony Joshua on odd Arabian night.

“I know that my fans like to see me knock people out and I can do that but sometimes with certain fighters you have to box smarter,” said Joshua. “I understand what Andy brought to the table so I had to decapitate him in a different way.” The fight itself was far from a classic, but Joshua’s cute transformation from gunslinger to boxer was effective enough to befuddle and neutralize Ruiz. Two judges had it 118-110, which felt about right, with a third scoring it 119-109. It means that Joshua becomes only the fourth man in the 127-year history of the world heavyweight title to successfully regain their title in a direct rematch, from the 10 fighters who attempted it: Floyd Patterson, Muhammed Ali and Lennox Lewis are the others. That is the company the Briton now keeps – although he will have to kick on smartly to get anywhere near Ali and Lewis in the pantheon.

“I can box, I can really box but I like to fight,” Joshua said afterwards. “I’m a warrior at heart. When you are used to knocking a man out, sometimes it may happen to you. I knew I would correct my wrongs. I’m a man who learns from his mistakes.” The Nigerian-born boxer certainly did. When Ruiz ripped the belts from Joshua’s grasp in New York in June he disrupted one of boxing’s most indomitable laws –that a good big fighter usually beats a good smaller one – by stopping Joshua in seven. This time around the natural order reasserted itself as the Briton used an eight-inch reach advantage and better side-to-side movement to keep his opponent off balance.

“Man, the first time was so nice, I had to do it twice!” added Joshua. “A man like me makes no excuses. This is about boxing. I’m used to knocking guys out. I got caught last time, no excuses, I gave him the credit. I respect Andy and his trainer so much. I wanted to show the sweet science of this lovely sport.” It was hard to dispute any of that. But he was certainly helped by Ruiz, his belly sagging over his shorts, being every bit as ponderous as his 20st weight had advertised. As the final bell rang he beat his chest angrily and said “fight me”. But deep down he knew he had been outfoxed – and out-prepared. As the Mexican-American admitted afterwards: “I don’t think I prepared as good as I should have. The three months of partying affected me. I should have trained harder. I gained too much weight and I wasn’t able to throw my combinations.

“But I don’t want to give no excuses. I believe I hurt him a few times but he was boxing his life out. He won, he boxed me around but, if we do the third, (you) best believe I will come in the best fucking shape of my life.” When asked why he didn’t train harder, Ruiz admitted: “There was a lot on my plate.” Food, no doubt. Anthony Joshua was disciplined throughout and restricted Andy Ruiz Jr’s opportunities to break through his defence. For much of the night the skies above Diriyah, on the outskirts of the Saudi capital Riyadh, were soot black as rain soaked the 15,000 spectators to the bone. The city usually gets less than 10cm of rainfall a year. Much of it seemed to come in one sustained burst.

At one point, as the wind whipped around the open air arena and wobbled the giant screens above the ring, there were even some concerns that the fight might be in jeopardy. Fortunately the threat of electrical storms had dissipated by the time Joshua and Ruiz faced off, just after midnight here. Both men had shown plenty of respect for each other in the protracted buildup and the fight started cautiously, with Ruiz stalking his prey and the Briton on the back foot. But shortly before the end of the opening round a nasty right hand from Joshua suddenly bloodied his opponent above his left eye.

The old Joshua might have scented blood and immediately gone for the kill. This time, however, he had clearly loosened his addiction to chaos. Instead he was content to dance on the outside and allow his jab attempt to dominate – although he did pick up a small cut himself over his right eye at the end of the second round. The pattern had been set. The Briton kept jabbing and moving from side to side. In truth it sometimes looked mechanical, like someone dancing in public for the first time, but with Ruiz so slow it kept working. Joshua usually prepares for a fight by spending hours each week pumping iron, developing a body with muscles that could turn heads on Venice beach. This time he came in at under 17st – his lightest weight for five years – in a bid to counter Ruiz’s speed.

Sometimes, though there was a sense that the Briton was allowing Ruiz’s roughhouse tactics to get to him – and that he wanted to trade too much. In the eighth he paid the price as the Mexican-American landed with a good left hook followed by a right hand. But it was Ruiz, with his granite chin, who was still taking bigger punches as the fight went into the championship rounds.

The crowd, who had paid between £105 and £10,000 for tickets, certainly enjoyed it. And so, clearly, did Joshua. Earlier in the week he had been warned that he was being duped by a Saudi regime that was “sports-washing” its reputation. He will continue to face criticism from human rights groups. But with so much in the bank, Expectations were high that Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr face off on Saturday night in the most controversial world heavyweight title fight for more than 40 years; their rules of engagement would be those of the Marquis of Queensberry and not Mr. Olympia. But as the two men touched the scales in Saudi Arabia it was impossible to ignore their respective physiques. Joshua sported a six-pack. His opponent looked as if he had just drunk one. Before their clash, Joshua has been relaxed all week, despite the mounting criticism from Amnesty International that taking around £60m from a kingdom that has an “abysmal” human rights record, including jailing and executing opponents, was a serious misstep. But the sight of Ruiz weighing in at 20st 3lb, the second highest in heavyweight championship history behind the Russian giant Nikolai Valuev, has surely sent his confidence surging. Joshua knew there can be only three reasons why Ruiz was now 15lbs heavier than in June, when he discombobulated his senses, and all of us watching, to rip the WBA, IBF and WBO world titles from his waist.

Anthony Joshua insisted Andy Ruiz’s burgeoning weight was not important. The first was that the Mexican-American believed the dice were loaded against him on a show run by Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn and had packed on muscle to ensure the fight did not go the distance. The second was that he was hiding an anvil under the large sombrero he wore on the scales. The least generous interpretation is that Ruiz Jr has gone full Buster Douglas. It was Douglas who became a byword for going from glory to gluttony, following up his staggering knockout of Mike Tyson by coming in 15lbs heavier for his only world title defence against Evander Holyfield. The contrast in appearance with Joshua, who weighed in at 16st 13lb – his lightest since 2014 – could hardly have been starker. Defeat had given the 30-year-old Briton time to reset, to think, to level up. Not only had he trained for 16 weeks for the rematch, sparring for 12 of them – double his usual quota – he has also been zealously studying videos of old fights.

“Ever since I walked into boxing I have been dominating,” he says. “Championships, bosh! Turn pro, bosh! World champion, bosh! And then you never really understand what it is until it’s taken.” “So I’ve really started studying boxing again. I’ve watched loads of videos, old fights. You learn about tactics, about when to move to the left against an orthodox fighter. Is it dangerous? Is it smart? What is the first art of defensive boxing? I didn’t give a fuck about the science, I just came to fight. Now I’m learning about the sweet science again.” The vibes are good. Since arriving in Riyadh prior to the fight, Joshua had held his sparring at a pop-up boxing ring at the British embassy in the Saudi capital. For his last session, he invited 80-100 staff to watch. One onlooker said the fighter looked sensational.

“Behind closed doors I swear I work so hard mentally and physically,” Joshua said. “I spend hours perfecting my craft. As soon as I wake up in the morning I’m listening to stuff that has relevance to mental strength. The minute before I go to sleep I’m just thinking boxing.” The Diriyah Arena was the first of a heavyweight title bout in the Middle East. “There are clues to success and you have to go back to what it takes to be a great heavyweight champion. We had to bring in hard, rough sparring partners. I brought in the toughest and roughest. “Only three times in the 127-year history of the world heavyweight title has a champion regained the belt in a direct rematch, from the 10 fighters who have attempted it. The most recent was Lennox Lewis, who swatted away Hasim Rahman in Las Vegas in 2001. The other two were Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali, which gives you an idea of the elite company that Joshua hopes he will soon be in. “I’m doing the same thing as Lennox,” he boasted. “It shows character because a lot of people would be like: ‘Nah, take your time, don’t rush it,’ but I don’t think I need any warm-up fights. I’m more than ready.” Ruiz Jr disputed that, believing his opponent still carried the mental scars of being put down four times in their first meeting. He is an immensely likeable man who talks passionately about wanting to help build youth programmes to keep underprivileged children out of trouble. But when he steps into the ring his politeness and paunch are camouflage. If he can sustain the fire and intensity for 12 rounds he could spring another surprise but his shape raises serious questions.

And in his tacit praise for the Saudi government he was at least walking a timeworn path. In the days before Ali’s victory he warmly embraced the Zaire’s dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and said he felt free in the country – the same Mobutu who was infamous for having the rebel Pierre Mulele’s eyes gouged out, his genitals ripped off, and his limbs amputated one by one, all while he was still alive. The Nigerian knew better than most, that defeat will be disastrous for his reputation and ranking. “It will definitely be catastrophic if I lose but I’m not even thinking about that,” he says. “It will be big business when I win.” But with £60m heading to his bank account on Saturday night, business – however grubby it may seem to some – is looking peachy enough already.