Andy Ruiz Jr. provided an emphatic reminder six months ago that odds-makers sometimes get it entirely wrong.

Most Las Vegas and Internet handicappers installed Anthony Joshua as at least a 20-1 favorite to defeat Ruiz in the days leading up to their June 1 fight at Madison Square Garden in New York. An underestimated Ruiz wasn’t quite a Buster Douglas-like underdog, but his seventh-round stoppage of Joshua amounted to the biggest heavyweight championship upset since Hasim Rahman knocked out Lennox Lewis in the fifth round 18 years earlier in Brakpan, South Africa.

Nevertheless, even after Ruiz floored Joshua four times and definitively defeated the previously unbeaten British superstar, Joshua is favored to win their immediate rematch. The 30-year-old Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) is consistently listed as more than a 2-1 favorite to avenge his loss to Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs) on December 7 at Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

The 30-year-old Ruiz, perhaps aware that skeptics consider his huge upset of Joshua a fluke, isn’t surprised handicappers have made him an underdog again.

“It doesn’t,” Ruiz told Sky Sports recently when asked if the odds on their rematch surprised him. “It really doesn’t, you know? But, you know, things will change. And I feel that’s another motivation that I have to do, is prove other people wrong, and show who I really am. Not just what I did on June 1st, but what I’m gonna do December 7th. I’ve gotta show more of my skills, more of my talent and, you know, just do what I’ve gotta do and do what I do best.”

Ruiz, who stands four inches shorter than Joshua, feels his size and style are all wrong for his 6-feet-6, 245-pound opponent. No matter how much Joshua has tried to change during this training camp, the Imperial, California, native doesn’t believe that the former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO champion will be able to deal with his hand speed and boxing ability.

“I don’t think he’s ever fought a short guy that pressures and that’s pretty slick, you know?,” Ruiz said. “I feel in that fight on June 1st, I was kind of boxing him around. Even though I was the shorter guy, you know, I was counter-punching him. When he would throw, I would throw back with more punches. So, I think he saw something different that he’s never seen before.” 

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