Joshua Rejects Ruiz's Claim of Never Being Hurt in First Fight
Dec 5, 2019 • 4:51 PM ET
Anthony Joshua has rejected the claim by IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz - who insists he was never hurt in their first meeting back in June.
Ruiz went down in the third round of the contest. When Joshua made an aggressive attempt to finish him off - Ruiz clipped him hard with a counter and the British star never recovered. Joshua went down two times in the same round, and then twice more in the seventh before the fight was waved off.
The rematch takes place on Saturday night in Saudi Arabia.
Ruiz has claimed in several interviews that he wasn't really hurt after getting knocked down - which allowed him to rock Joshua, who came in guns blazing with the belief that Ruiz was in serious trouble.
And Joshua once again denies the chatter that he quit in the seventh round of the fight.
"He was definitely hurt," Joshua exclusively told Sky Sports. "You don't go down unless you are hurt. It's such a difficult thing to say when you're fighting, because the adrenaline is high. A car probably could have gone into both of us, and we would have found a way to get up. I got put down four times, and got up.
"The only reason I didn't walk out into the middle of the ring was because my gum-shield wasn't in. I was waiting for the referee. He said: 'Are you ready to fight?' I said: 'Yes'. I was waiting for him to put my gum-shield in my mouth. But he waved off the fight. Was I hurt? Not to the point where I couldn't get up and stand on my feet. Was he hurt? Not to the point where he couldn't get up. But he was hurt enough that he felt that punch, for sure.
"I've got to learn from that situation, to be more responsible. Don't leave it for the referee to take responsibility. Take care of that situation. I don't think that I didn't want to fight on, because I wouldn't have got up. I would have stayed down. I was waiting for him to put my gum-shield back so I could continue to fight. Next time I will take more responsibility and say: 'I'm ready, ref, my gum-shield is in so let's go'. That's how I will deal with it, next time."
