Anthony Joshua as reclaimed the WBO, IBF, and WBA heavyweight titles after a stunning fight with Andy Ruiz at the Diriyah Arena, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia on Saturday while still holding the IBO title.
The scores were 118-110, 118-110, 119-109.
Joshua (24-1, 21 KOs) got his revenge as he boxed his way to a twelve round unanimous decision over Andy Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) to recapture the titles taken from him by Ruiz six months ago at Madison Square Garden in New York City, US.
Joshua was moving and boxing as the fight started off in the first. The jab and right hands worked for him and the end of the round, a right hand opened up a cut above Ruiz’s left eye.
Joshua got off better in the second round as well but a cut opened up around his left eye. The third was the same, with Joshua boxing and moving. Ruiz was applying a lot of pressure in the fourth, but he was still outboxed, though the latter landed several hard shots at the end of the round.
Joshua was pumping a solid jab in the fifth and continued to control the action. It was more of the same in the sixth, with Joshua pumping out a rapid jab and boxing. Joshua was boxing and landing in the seventh, and held Ruiz whenever he came in close. In the eight, Ruiz finally began to close the and was not allowing Joshua to hold by pushing him and unloading with fast combinations.
Back to boxing in the ninth for Joshua, who was moving and outboxing Ruiz. And more of the same for most of the tenth. Joshua continued his game plan in the eleventh, with Ruiz unable to connect with anything. And nothing changed in the twelfth, with Joshua boxing and doing most of the landing.
Joshua finally took home the belt and he’s expected to cash in a whooping $50 million.
He is currently a two-time unified heavyweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles since December 2019, and previously between 2016 and June 2019.