One of the biggest upsets in boxing history just occurred on Saturday night at the historical Madison Square Garden in New York City when huge underdog Andy “The Destroyer” Ruiz Jr. (33-1, 22 KOs) a late replacement opponent for Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller knocked out the beloved heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) in the seventh round.
The arena was filled with many traveling Brits who came to watch their champion make his US debut, but the cheering and singing of “Sweet Caroline” ended abruptly the moment Joshua got dropped right after dropping Ruiz.
Joshua got trigger happy after hurting and dropping Ruiz in round three, this led to the overanxious Brit to try to go for the finish only to get hit with a vicious hook in return from Ruiz sending him to the canvas.
After Joshua beat the count he got up still wobbly, and was holding on to survive, but near the end of the round he got dropped again and saved by the bell.
Round four was Joshua trying to regain his composure and Ruiz didn’t jump on him allowing the Brit to recover. The commentators thought Ruiz blew his chance by not going after a wounded Joshua in round four.
Round five and six were more competitive but it was mostly Joshua trying to stick and move, Ruiz kept walking him down without any fear.
Round seven was the big moment. Joshua tried to exchange blows again with the shorter pudgier challenger and paid the price by getting stunned and dropped twice, after recovering the referee had Joshua go to the corner and then waved it off.
Andy Ruiz Jr. made history becoming the first Mexican-American to win the heavyweight championship of the world.
After the fight Ruiz was humble in victory and said he would give the British star a rematch. Promoter Eddie Hearn said the rematch would take place in England and that Joshua would need to change things to comeback stronger.
The mega-fight between WBC champion Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua has just been derailed by a last minute replacement, and this goes to show anything can happen in boxing.
For now, Ruiz is the man having dethroned the king and captured 3 of the 4 majort titles in the process.
