By Keith Idec

According to Anthony Joshua, Andy Ruiz Jr. won’t even recognize the opponent he’ll encounter in their rematch.

Joshua told Sky Sports’ Adam Smith in an interview that aired Tuesday that he’ll be “a completely different beast” from the fighter Ruiz beat by technical knockout June 1 at Madison Square Garden. Ruiz, a huge underdog, overcame a third-round knockdown that night, dropped Joshua four times and won by seventh-round TKO to pull off boxing’s biggest upset since Hasim Rahman knocked out Lennox Lewis in their April 2001 heavyweight title fight in South Africa.

The 29-year-old Joshua intends to take a new approach, mentally and physically, to their second fight later this year. Extremely motivated by his first professional defeat and its aftermath, Joshua says he is hungry again and anxious to prove that this loss will become just a minor setback.

“It’s a fight I know I can win, and that’s what makes it important, because I know I can win,” Joshua said. “What makes it more important is how I prepare for this fight. And that’s why, when I looked at my options of what we need to do as a team, whether we keep it the same, add to what we have or got rid of it, I thought option two was the best because I’m only a product of what I’m taught in the gym.

“And I wanna add to what I have, so that when I go to fight Ruiz in the rematch – he’s gonna assume that was the best Anthony Joshua in the ring. And I think I fought the best Ruiz in the ring that night. But when I come for that rematch, he’s gonna be dealing with a completely different beast.”

Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) also informed Smith that the date and venue for their immediate rematch will be revealed soon. Now that a couple months have passed since his stunning loss, the revitalized former IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO champion is looking forward to getting into training camp to prepare for his shot at redemption.

“I feel good,” Joshua said. “It’s a little blip, a mistake I made. And I would say Ruiz was ready to be taken out. I’m just gonna add to what we already have, correct my wrongs and look forward to the rematch, because I feel it’s a fight I can win.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.