By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Lou DiBella has heard and read from plenty of people claiming since Saturday night that they picked Andy Ruiz Jr. to upset Anthony Joshua.
The outspoken promoter doesn’t believe any of them. DiBella did acknowledge Wednesday, though, that there were a lot people within the boxing industry confused when promoter Eddie Hearn and Joshua chose Ruiz as Jarrell Miller’s replacement once Miller tested positive for three performance-enhancing drugs.
Those people figured Ruiz’s hand speed and boxing ability would trouble the 6-feet-6, 245-pound Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs), who was a 25-1 favorite leading up to their fight Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs) got up from a third-round knockdown, dropped Joshua four times, twice apiece in the third and seventh rounds, and scored one of biggest upsets in boxing history by stopping the British superstar.
“Andy Ruiz was just a bad f***ing pick, just a bad move,” said DiBella, whose own underdog, Steve Rolls, will face former middleweight champ Gennadiy Golovkin this Saturday night at The Garden. “You know, a guy with great hand speed, doesn’t even look the part. You look at the whole thing, and now the frigging guy is a cult figure. And he deserves to be. And by the way, now you’re seeing all these guys come out of the woodwork and say, ‘I picked Andy Ruiz.’ Bullsh*t! No one picked Andy Ruiz. No one picked Andy Ruiz, but a lot of people knew that he had good hands.
“A lot of people knew that he was slick and most people were thinking to themselves, ‘I don’t really understand this selection.’ Like, ‘I don’t really understand why this is the replacement opponent,’ because they thought he might make Joshua look bad. Look, the guy lost once to a world-class fighter in his career [Joseph Parker]. And he got in there, and Joshua didn’t have his night and he had his night, he executed perfectly, and now his grandkids are rich.”
The 29-year-old Ruiz, of Commerce, California, is contractually obligated to give Joshua an immediate rematch.
Hearn announced Tuesday that Joshua has exercised that rematch clause in his contract. Ruiz and Joshua are expected to fight again either in November or December, probably at a stadium somewhere in the United Kingdom.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
