Less than a month after telling Nigeria born British boxer Anthony Joshua, to quit the game if he fails to win their re-match, Andy Ruiz jnr has again dished out another basketful of threat.
The Mexican who has continued to intensify training ahead of the much talked about re-match has warned that he has lost some weight and as such has become lighter, faster and more powerful.
Andy Ruiz who has continued to savour the benefits of victory, floored Joshua four times in New York in June, a fight which went down as one of the all-time shocks in heavyweight boxing history.
As if buying into popular saying that the best form of defence is attack, the 30 year old nicknamed the destroyer has not relented in reminding the Nigeria born boxer that he is now the new champion and is not ready to allow him re-claim his belts.
‘I have a lot of respect for Anthony, outside the ring he is a very good man’, he told ESPN Deportes.
‘But inside [the ring] there are no friends; there is no respect or anything.
‘It will not be an easy fight. I think it will be a hard fight, but nothing is easy in life, so we are training very hard. We will be prepared for whatever he bring.
‘I will arrive in better condition…. lighter, faster and more powerful. They will believe that in December they will win. ‘People will always talk like this, but I have faith that we’re going to win and shut up more mouths,” he told ESPN Deportes, while showing off his new physique
Ruiz, it will be recalled was a late replacement for June’s fight, after Joshua was originally scheduled to fight Jarrell Miller before the American failed three different drug tests.
When Luis Oritz refused to fight Joshua, Ruiz stepped in a month in advance, with virtually no one in the boxing world giving him any hope of an upset.
But the Mexican captured the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO world heavyweight titles with his seventh-round TKO victory – Joshua’s first professional defeat.
Despite his rising confidence some die-hard pundits of the game say the possibility of Joshua re-claiming his titles cannot be ruled out pointing to lessons learnt and his determination to work more and talk less as indicators of a resolve to reclaim lost glory.
