Eddie Hearn has confirmed that Anthony Joshua has triggered a rematch clause with Andy Ruiz Jr, with the fight set to take place in November or December.
Joshua suffered a shock defeat for the first time in his professional career on Saturday at the hands of Ruiz Jr on his US debut at Madison Square Garden in New York.
In the aftermath of the seventh-round loss, his promoter Hearn said that Joshua’s team were keen on enforcing a rematch in a bid to regain his heavyweight titles and that they wanted to stage the second fight in the UK.
Now Hearn has confirmed that a rematch clause has been activated after meetings with Joshua’s team in New York.
“After meetings with AJ, Rob Mc (Rob McCracken, coach) and the management team in NY, we have today triggered the contracted rematch clause with Ruiz Jr,” he tweeted.
“The fight will take place in Nov/Dec at a venue to be confirmed shortly.”
Ruiz Jr earlier admitted that Mexico is his desired location for a rematch with Joshua.
“I’d love to do the rematch but first I’ve got to talk to my team, we’ll go from there and figure things out,” ‘The Destroyer’ said.
“I’d love to be in Mexico, there’s never been a heavyweight champion in Mexico so I’d love to have a rematch there.
“I’m still pinching myself that this is true, all that hard work and dedication, I’ve made my dreams come true. We’ve been working for this my whole life, it’s overwhelming and I’m just excited.”
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COMMENTS
Joshua no let this beat u again oo, the guy beat nonsense comot for ur eye that day,
watch holified vs mike Tyson u don’t too close to short boxer distance Punch,technical movement, round the ring .that is all you need.don’t too close he may be short but his hands is fast you may not see it coming. You still need to train hard because you get tired easily
U be coach true true
Coach, that is so true. He also needs to assess the situation around him and adjust his fight-strategy/approach accordingly.
I was speaking to my sister about this fight the other day and I said, if it was Mohammed Ali, even if he had lost the match, he would not have been knocked down under disgraceful circumstances.
From the third round (after take that blow to his temple) he should have sensed the danger and he should have read the signals sent by his body which indicated he was in real trouble.
Then I think he should have employed a bit of gamesmanship, conserve his energy to slowly re-charge, anticipate Ruiz’ blows and be prepared to duck these, pick his moments and then pounce only when he knew the time was right.
Instead, he continued to have a go as if he was the same man who entered the ring, not appreciating that after the blows he took in the 3rd round, he was now half the man he was as of when he entered the ring!
Methinks Joshua lost that fight before he got into the ring. He and his team totally underrated Ruiz.jr.
And I don’t blame them..the whole world did.
That was the first mistake.
Cause in boxing every champion was once an underdog.you don’t underestimate the underdog; especially one like Ruiz Jr. Who has nothing to lose.
Let’s not forget,AJ specifically trained to fight Miller,after big baby pulled out,he let his guard down and really didn’t change his approach/strategy,in respect to the destroyer.
Joshua is one that can take a punch and go the distance ( he did that against Klitschko).
He can conserve energy (he did that against Parker).
And he has fought shorter fighters before (Parker was short).
He simply didn’t bring his A game on the night,cause he thought he was fighting a B fighter.so was stunned and had no answer for it.
It has always happened in boxing before. Rahman stunned Lewis.
And the infamous Douglas stunned Tyson.
So what next.
He is already in the right step.get a rematch.train hard and bring your A game.become who you were before your became champion,hungry, determined and ruthless..
There is no shame in been knocked down.champions do get knocked down.
Ali lost his meeting against smokey Joe Fraiser.
Lewis lost to Rahman.
George Foreman lost to Morrison.
But all these men came back and won back their belts..
So AJ can do same..
If he doesn’t then he wasn’t good enough,but he already has his legacy.
This is just a learning curve..
Uncle Hush,
Whilst I agree with most of what you said, I think being knocked out does carry a degree of shame depending on the opponent that knocks you out.
Mike Tyson being knocked out by Evander (the real deal) Hollyfield was not a shame but the same Tyson being knocked out by ranked outsider James (Buster) Douglas was really shameful indeed!
Like you said (to which I alluded to in a previous post), I also think lack of (adequate) preparations contributed to this monumental defeat that AJ suffered the other night.
However, I stand by what I said that having failed to prepare, the way he managed himself in that match also demonstrates to me that he hasn’t fully mastered the art of psychological warfare (battle) particularly when it appears things aren’t going your way in the heat of the battle.
Like you said, it is a learning curve but, Men, what a way to learn!!!
@deo
What a way to learn!
You can say that again..
You are right about all prognosis and solutions;as it regards Aj’s loss.
It is shameful losing the way he did.
No one can expected that.
But it is done. Now he should focus on not making the same mistake in the future.
He has two paths now in front of him;
The path to recovery(Lenox Lewis) or the path that leads to the exit( Samuel Peter)..
It is up to AJ to chose his path.
Yes.he needs to get it psychologically,and physically.
I believe he wasn’t ready both ways in the last fight;mainly because he underestimated his opponent.
And yes his response was ineffective.and that was caused by the fact that AJ lost that match before it even started ; but him and most didn’t even know it.
Due Joshua’s humility,he gave hints of this in his post- interviews (doggedly so,being shamed about his loss).
i. His training approach was bad ,even if he trained hard and well,it was a training meant for another opponent with different style,physique and techniques (big baby is totally different from Destroyer).
ii. His focus was totally not on Ruiz jr. but firstly on Miller,then switched to Ortiz, even when the fight with Ruiz.jr was confirmed; AJ ‘s mind was on Fury .
So he was really psychologically ready to face the man infront of him,who wanted everything from him( Ruiz.jr specifically begged for this match from Hearn through a social media outlet).
iii. Once you lose your focus,when the day comes ,it gets hard for you to focus on something you have no idea about,because you never focus or prepared for such. You might think you did but you really didn’t. And when the shock comes; the professionality and Champ in you want to respond,(it is all psychological,the knee jerk effect), but the spirit is willing but the body can’t give,because you weren’t ready at the first place.so you get battered.And that is what happened to AJ.
Now he is a wounded horse. But can that horse still ride. I believe he can.But can he prove me right..
That is up to him..
If he doesn’t ,then he was once champion…
*So He wasn’t really ready psychologically*
U sabi