WBO, WBA, IBF, IBO heavyweight world champion Andy Ruiz is clapping back at Anthony Joshua's repeated comments that he was decked by a lucky shot in the third round of their contest.
In their June encounter, Ruiz was dropped by a counter, but got up to his feet and engaged Joshua - landing a hard crack to the temple - and then dropped Joshua twice, in the same round. Two more knockdowns in the seventh and Ruiz secured the stoppage win.
On December 7th, the two are scheduled to collide in a high stakes rematch in Saudi Arabia.
Ruiz believes his knockdown also came from a lucky shot, which he says didn't really hurt him.
"That was a lucky shot for him, too," Ruiz said to Sky Sports. "I got lazy. It was a punch in the blink of an eye. I thought: 'what just happened?'
"I wasn't that hurt because I wasn't wobbling. I still had the will and the fire inside of me. I wanted to keep fighting and win the fight. Once he dropped me, then got me with a really good right hand, I could eat his punches. Mentally he thought: 'this guy isn't going down, what is happening?'
Ruiz credits his left hook for changing around the entire fight and leading him to victory. The Mexican heavyweight was a late replacement for Jarrell Miller, who was removed after failing a drug test.
"I had to do everything possible to change the fight, and that's what I did with the left hook. The left hook was a really great shot in the temple. The other times I hit him in the head, he loosened up and got wobbly. I was the better fighter that day because I pressured him, threw more punches and the body shots put him down," Ruiz said.
"If it was another fighter in there, Joshua would have beat him. If it was Jarrell Miller, he would have beaten him. I was hungry, that's the difference between me and other fighters. I've been doing it since I was six years old, it's all I know."
