Andy Ruiz Jr shocks world with knockout of Anthony Joshua

Andy Ruiz Jr shocks world with knockout of Anthony Joshua for heavyweight championship…

Andy Ruiz Jr sprang one of the biggest shocks in heavyweight championship history on Saturday night when he spoiled Anthony Joshua’s US debut with a seventh-round technical knockout at Madison Square Garden.
The unheralded 29-year-old from southern California, a replacement opponent dialled in on five weeks’ notice who went off as a 11-1 underdog, came off the floor in the third round to drop Joshua twice before the end of the frame, then sent the undefeated champion crashing to the canvas for a third and fourth time in the seventh round before referee Mike Griffin put a stop to the proceedings at the 1:27 mark.

“I just feel so good, man,” said an elated Ruiz, who captured Joshua’s WBA, WBO and IBF belts in a stunner that ranks alongside Buster Douglas v Mike Tyson and James Braddock v Max Baer among the most seismic in the division’s centuries-spanning annals. “This is what I have been dreaming about. This is what I have been working hard for. I can’t believe I just made my dreams come true.”
Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs), who was only even in a position for the life-changing upset because Joshua’s original opponent, Brooklyn’s Jarrell Miller, failed three tests for different performance-enhancing drugs shortly after the match-up was announced, became the first fighter of Mexican descent to win a heavyweight title in the most dramatic fashion imaginable.
“It’s because of the Mexican warrior I am,” said Ruiz, an Imperial Valley native and resident who spent time growing up in the border town of Mexicali and represented Mexico at the 2008 Olympic trials. “I have that Mexican blood in me. Talking about the Mexican fighting style, I just proved it.”

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