Anthony Joshua says he was so confident going into this fight with Andy Ruiz that he didn’t even consider a rematch clause.
Anthony Joshua entered Saturday night’s bout with late replacement Andy Ruiz Jr. as a massive favorite. But in one of the biggest upsets of the decade, Ruiz flattened Joshua in the seventh round and took all of his titles. It was an outcome that nearly no one saw coming – and that includes Joshua. After the loss, he told The Guardian that he was so confident going into the bout that he didn’t consider a possible second bout with Ruiz:
“I didn’t even ask about a rematch clause because I was so confident I was going to win. If it’s there, we’ll go again and I’ll get the titles back. I’m going to beat him up. I’m not dwelling on it. You just correct it, you adjust, you sit down, you focus and you go again.”
He tried to stay upbeat about the loss though:
“Trust me, I come from a good family, but where I was at in life, I’ve dealt with more shit than this,” he said.
“I’ve dealt with some real big losses and I’ve bounced back. Life is a journey. This is boxing. What I have to do is re-evaluate the situation, make it better and we go again. We didn’t come this far to stop, we didn’t come this far to fold under pressure. We came this far and I definitely feel like we can go a lot further.”
Fortunately for him though, his promoter Eddie Hearn was on top of things. He confirmed there was a rematch clause in place, and that Joshua and Ruiz will rematch before the end of 2019.
“Listen, tonight was [Ruiz’s] night but AJ will come back 100% and we will make the rematch in the UK in November or December. But this night now belongs to Andy Ruiz.
“AJ has the heart of a lion and will come back stronger. Now at least we know the opponent for the end of the year in the UK. Absolutely we will enact the immediate rematch. He will be devastated when it sinks in. It makes the fall fight a must-win.”