Former two division champion Paulie Malignaggi expects a far more competitive fight when heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz collide for a second time.

Ruiz became a major player back in June, when he came in on late notice and stopped Joshua in seven rounds to capture the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO world titles.

Joshua went down four times before the contest was waved off at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

A rematch came together for the date of December 7th, in Saudi Arabia.

The first contest was viewed as a mismatch, but the rematch is regarded by many as a 50-50 fight.

"Whether you see a better Ruiz or not, I don't think you got to see all of Ruiz. I don't think he had to use his whole arsenal to get Joshua out of there. He fought a pretty basic fight and he got Joshua out of there so so you may see a better Ruiz because Joshua may force a better Ruiz as well, and also Joshua will come with a mentally stronger game plan and physically he'll obviously come with a stronger game plan," Malignaggi told Fighthype.com.

"So in that regard, you expect to see a better Joshua, so in that regard, you expect to see a more Ruiz, a better Ruiz. Ruiz will have to show more of himself. You didn't see all of Ruiz in that fight, he fought a pretty basic fight and the fight ended."

In the first bout, Malignaggi wonders if Joshua took Ruiz a little lightly.

But he does not expect him to take Ruiz lightly in the second contest. 

"AJ strikes me as a mentally strong fighter. When I saw the Klitschko fight I really believed like 'wow, this guy got up of his ass in front of 90,000 people and put this together when he was out,' you know what I mean? He was almost out of the fight and he lost the next couple of rounds after that but refused to wither away and eventually got this guy out if there," Malignaggi said.

"To me that was impressive. Not because of physically stopping Klitschko, but what he did because of mentally - stabilising himself in such a storm. I think in the Ruiz fight, when you don't expect a tough fight and you're in a tough fight, you're mind can never stabilise itself. I think he went into the Klitschko fight expecting a tough fight so when it got tough, mentally he stayed with it. Maybe in the Ruiz fight, he took him lightly... maybe from a mental perspective he knows how dangerous Ruiz can be now and he'll have more of an edge to him."