Sophia Michaels
Diriyah Arena, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia – Anthony Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) got revenge as he boxed his way to a twelve round unanimous decision over Andy Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) to recapture the WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA heavyweight titles. The scores were 118-110, 118-110, 119-109.
In the first bout, back in June, Ruiz came in as a late replacement and dropped Joshua four times to secure a seventh round stoppage at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Joshua was moving and boxing as the fight started off in the first. The jab and right hands were working for Joshua. At the end of the round a right hand opened up a cut above the left eye of Ruiz.
Joshua was getting off better in the second round as well. A cut opened up around the left eye of Joshua. The third was the same, with Joshua boxing and moving. Ruiz was applying a lot of pressure in the fourth, but he was still being outboxed by Joshua. Ruiz landed several hard shots at the end of the round.
Joshua was pumping a solid jab in the fifth and continued to control the action. It was more of the same in the sixth, with Joshua pumping out a rapid jab and boxing. Joshua was boxing and landing in the seventh, and held Ruiz whenever he came in close. In the eight, Ruiz finally began to close the and was not allowing Joshua to hold by pushing him and unloading with fast combinations.
Back to boxing in the ninth for Joshua, who was moving and outboxing Ruiz. And more of the same for most of the tenth. Joshua continued his game plan in the eleventh, with Ruiz unable to connect with anything. And nothing changed in the twelfth, with Joshua boxing and doing most of the landing.
