WBA, IBF, WBO World Heavyweight Champion Andy Ruiz Jr. held nothing back when he came to face to face with Anthony Joshua for a “Gloves Are Off” special on Sky Sports.
When they fought back in June, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Ruiz dropped Joshua four times before the contest was stopped in the seventh round.
Joshua appeared to be mentally and physically exhausted after rising up from the fourth knockdown. The referee waved off the bout, after believing that Joshua gave off the appearance of a fighter who had little left in the tank.
The rematch is scheduled for December 7th in Saudi Arabia.
“I think he quit because of the way it was going. I think he was out of it and didn’t know where he was at that moment. I think he quit,” Ruiz said.
Andy Ruiz told him Joshua quit in the nicest way possible? pic.twitter.com/S4Qd0mpbQ2
— Connoisseur of Combat (@ConOfCombat) November 28, 2019
“Would I have quit under that sort of attack? It depends on how hurt I was. But I don’t quit. If I fall, I fall.”
But Joshua denies that he quit in the bout, explaining that he could have stayed down when dropped.
“I am a champion no matter what anyone says about me. If the conclusion is that I quit, why didn’t I just stay down? He hit me with a shot that I could not recover from but I still stuck in there,” Joshua said.
“I got dropped four times and I just kept getting up. The only reason I didn’t walk out of the corner in the seventh round was because my gum-shield was not in and I was waiting for the referee to put it in my mouth but he waved it off.
“The main thing is I am still fighting. It would be worse if I did not come back — that is true failure.”
–boxingscene.com
