Andy Ruiz arrived at the final press conference for his rematch with Anthony Joshua sporting the very same New York Knicks jersey with which he was presented prior to his historic win in their clash this past June.

It wasn’t necessarily the reigning unified heavyweight king playing mind games with his divisional rival. More so, it was a reminder of the long road he’s traveled to realize his lifelong dream, climbing off the canvas to floor England’s Joshua (22-1, 21KOs) four times en route to a 7th round knockout this past June at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“We’ve been training really hard for this moment, just like June 1,” Ruiz (33-1, 22KOs) said during Wednesday’s final press conference ahead of his first title defense this Saturday in a state-of-the-art temporary stadium in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. “I made my dreams come true. I made history.

“I think the important thing is to remain (champion) and make history on December 7 here in Saudi Arabia.”

Ruiz’s upset win allowed him to become the first-ever Mexican boxer in history to claim a piece of the heavyweight crown, claiming four major titles (IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO) that evening. Saturday will mark his first defense, as well as the first time since April 2016 where Joshua will enter a major title fight as a beltless challenger.

Prior to the first fight, Joshua—who’d made six successful defenses of at least one title during his three-plus year reign—allowed Ruiz to pose with all of the belts during their final press conference in New York City. Ruiz went on to collect all of the hardware and has since refused to let go—including at Wednesday’s final session on site with Diriyah, where his collection remained on display while on stage and draped across both arms during their obligatory staredown.

“I don’t want to let these beautiful belts go away. All this hard work and dedication… remember, I’ve been doing this since I was six years old,” notes Ruiz, whose lone loss came in a 12-round majority decision defeat to Joseph Parker in their Dec. 2016 vacant title fight. “There’s no way that I’m gonna let these belts go. I’m going to do anything that’s possible to get that victory on Dec. 7.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox