Ruiz Jr: Joshua floored me with ‘lucky punch’

Andy Ruiz Jr has ominously told Anthony Joshua “I wasn’t that hurt” when he climbed off the canvas to cause the greatest heavyweight shock of the generation.
Joshua has previously claimed he lost due to a “lucky punch – a punch sent by the gods” but Ruiz Jr has now responded by denying that he was ever hurt, even when he was knocked down.
“That was a lucky shot for him, too,” Ruiz Jr said about the moment that Joshua floored him in the early stages of their first world heavyweight title fight.
“I got lazy. It was a punch in the blink of an eye. I thought: ‘what just happened?’
“I wasn’t that hurt because I wasn’t wobbling. I still had the will and the fire inside of me. I wanted to keep fighting and win the fight.”
Joshua will have the chance to reclaim his IBF, WBA and WBO belts and avenge the only loss of his career when he faces Ruiz again on December 7.
Joshua has since said: “Ruiz Jr got hit by a flash knockdown – he was still raw, he wasn’t well-done, he wasn’t cooked yet. I should have left him a little bit longer.”
Mexico’s first world heavyweight champion has claimed that moment in the third round broke Joshua psychologically. Ruiz Jr said: “Once he dropped me, then got me with a really good right hand, I could eat his punches. Mentally he thought: ‘this guy isn’t going down, what is happening?’
“I had to do everything possible to change the fight, and that’s what I did with the left hook.
“The left hook was a really great shot in the temple. The other times I hit him in the head, he loosened up and got wobbly. I was the better fighter that day because I pressured him, threw more punches and the body shots put him down.”
Joshua had previously criticised Ruiz Jr for taking seven rounds to knock him out, after hurting him in the third round.
“I’m just shocked it took Ruiz Jr another four rounds to get me out,” Joshua said.
“Let me concuss Ruiz Jr – he won’t get back up.”
Ruiz Jr has now insisted: “If it was another fighter in there, Joshua would have beat him. If it was Jarrell Miller, he would have beaten him.
“I was hungry, that’s the difference between me and other fighters. I’ve been doing it since I was six years old, it’s all I know.”