Reporting from Madison Square Garden.
New heavyweight champion of the world Andy Ruiz Junior said that the big guns in boxing should have paid attention to him before making other plans.
Speaking after his stunning victory over Anthony Joshua in Madison Square Garden, Ruiz said that the top three heavyweight fights (Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury) underestimated him.
“I’m a dangerous fighter as well and they underestimated me and started planning to fight other fighters instead of focusing on me.
“The speed got to them as did my style. I don’t think they thought that I was going to come out like that, but all the hard work in the gym paid off. I believed I was going to win.”
Ruiz joked that he was overlooked because of his physique. The first Mexican boxer to ever hold a heavyweight belt jested that “the extra flab” that he carries was enough to cause his rivals to take their eye off the ball.
This is Andy’s night, congratulations Champ 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/5gE8uFx4MG
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyjoshua) June 2, 2019
“We’ve been working on it. After we got this fight, we didn’t want me to lose too much weight. I wanted to be strong and I even actually gained five more pounds just to be a little stronger because Anthony’s a big guy.
“Now that I have time, I just want to get in really good shape and look like a Mexican Anthony.”
Pressed on whether he regretted his defeat to Joseph Parker – the solitary defeat of his boxing career – Ruiz stated that it was not bothering him and that he wasn’t giving any consideration to a rematch.
“I don’t really care. When I fought him, I trained myself for the fight. I feel I won, but now I have the WBO belt and he doesn’t, I just want to enjoy this moment.”
