Anthony Joshua has beaten Andy Ruiz Jnr to become a two-time word heavyweight champion with a unanimous points victory over Ruiz in a tense rematch inside WBO Arena in Saudi Arabia.
Six months on from the night Ruiz stunned boxing world, Joshua risked seeing his career left in tatters with a second defeat, but served up 36 minutes of movement and well-timed punching to take the IBF, WBA and WBO titles back to Britain.
After cutting his Mexican rival inside the first round he never looked back and picked out smart jabs and right hands throughout before being serenaded with chants of “AJ, AJ, AJ” by 14,000 or so fans in the Diriyah Arena.
Ruiz never looked close to landing a knockdown and when scores of 118-110 and 119-109 were read out, Joshua jumped up and down in the ring in celebration, just as the man who had wrecked his US debut did in June.
More to follow…
