Andy Ruiz beat Joshua against Wilder, but do not assume that he finished Joshua

Opening bell: autopsy of Joshua-Ruiz

NEW YORK – In an unforgettable evening, Andy Ruiz upset the heavyweight division and beat boxing with his impressive unimaginable and unexpected victory over Anthony Joshua to win his three major world titles on Saturday at Madison Square. Garden.

It was supposed to be a formality. Joshua was supposed to score a knockout that would serve as a launch pad for the mega British star to improve his profile during his US debut in a sacred arena, because if you can do it in New York, you can go anywhere, like Sinatra once crooned.

Instead, he turned himself into a Douglas-Mike Tyson Buster of that time, although less than life-giving because Douglas-Tyson was not only the biggest discontent in the history of boxing, but also one of the most important in the history of sport.

The merry Ruiz Ruiz, as friendly as he may be, was given no chance of winning, mainly because of a flabby body that does not exactly scream the title of "heavyweight champion", and also because there was nothing summary that indicated that he was capable of anything like that. In fact, his only defeat, even though his decision is debatable, came against one guy, Joseph Parker, whom Joshua easily pointed out to unify his belt in 2018.

But Ruiz made history by becoming the first Mexican-born boxer to win a heavyweight title, and he impressively did it in a fantastic fight that will probably be recognized as a year-old heck. It was probably the turn of the year, as the third round was extraordinary, Ruiz rising from the first knockout of his career to knock down Joshua twice in three tumultuous minutes.

Ruiz dropped Joshua two more times in the seventh round to finish it, as the sold-out crowd of 20,201 people – mostly Brits who had made the trip to cheer Joshua – seemed to be in shock. Ruiz had won the perfect record and the invincibility of Joshua, not to mention the assassination of any confrontation between Joshua and Deontay Wilder for the undisputed title always having the same meaning it would have had before Saturday.

That's because even though AJ had to defeat Ruiz and recover his belts in a revenge for which he has the contractual right – and a Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn set for November or December in the UK – and had to move on to then against Wilder, it will not be the same because it will not be a meeting at the top between holders of undefeated titles. This will never be resumed thanks to Ruiz who did what he did.

By the way, this should be another lesson for the power brokers who refused to make Joshua-Wilder greed and because they did not care what the public wanted. Joshua-Wilder believes that the most recent and most requested fights would have been the same, although not as big, but also: Vasiliy Lomachenko-Mikey Garcia, thanks to the unilateral defeat of Garcia to Errol Spence Jrell Charlo-Jarrett Hurd, in March, thanks to their loss and their loss. May this also be a lesson for Spence and Terence Crawford not to wait too long to give the public their mega welterweight welterweight fight.

Saturday night, no boxing fan will forget it, any more than the fighters. For Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs), 29, son of Mexican immigrants from Imperial, California, it is the culmination of his hopes and dreams and a history of well-being.

"I wanted to prove to all those who doubted to think that I was going to lose." What I do know is that I'm the first Mexican heavyweight champion in the world, "said Ruiz, a smiling smile. , wearing a jersey of the New York Knicks. press conference. "It's a blessing, I'm always pinching myself to see if that's right, man."

It's safe, and he knows it, because he then shouted his mother. "Mom, I love you, I love you, and our lives will change," he said, evoking the millions of dollars that he has earned on Saturday and the millions of dollars he has earned. others to come. "We do not need to fight anymore."

For Joshua (22-1, 21 KO), 29, whose defense of the seventh title was anything but lucky, number 7, the questions are just beginning: did he take the fight lightly? Does he need a new corner? Was he complacent? We do not know the answers yet. There was also strong criticism, with hot shots such as these: It was exposed; he has no chin, no stamina, and he stopped.

Be Exposed: People who follow this path should stay calm and do some work by studying Joshua's record, on which they will see victories on quality heavyweights such as Wladimir Klitschko, Dillian Whyte, Joseph Parker, Alexander Povetkin and Carlos Takam.

On the chin issue: Maybe it's not an excellent one, but it's never been against Klitschko (an excellent puncher of all time) and Ruiz, a man of 268 pounds which repeatedly nailed the button, and he kept getting up.

Heartless? Everyone needs to relax. The fact that he even managed to get out of the third round shows his heart. The heartless guys do not get up four times. And he was the victim of a concussion after the announcement of the fight. Even though Joshua, whose legs were gone, answered yes to referee Michael Griffin asking him if he wanted to continue after the second round robin 's seventh round, Griffin read his body language and spoke to him. is stopped correctly. the fight because Joshua was done. There is a difference between being made and quitting.

All of Joshua's detractors should remember this: People said exactly the same thing about Lennox Lewis, Olympic gold medalist, after he was knocked out by Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman, and Klitschko, after having eliminated by Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster. . It's easy to get caught off guard, but I look at it in the long run.

Lewis and Klitschko rebounded strongly and became big heavyweight champions after their setbacks.

Now, it's up to Joshua to see if he can do the same. It's a good guy (who does not deserve such harsh and petty criticism) and a talented fighter who has already provided boxing fans with many evenings and exciting fights. There is probably more to come, as he seeks to digest the shock defeat and come back stronger.

Most media members left MSG after the announcement of Joshua 's absence at the post – fight press conference due to a concussion. But more than an hour later, while he was being driven out of the arena, he took matters into his own hands and went into the press box to deal with the music, even though the most of the journalists were gone. It was his first step on the road to reconstruction.

"Believe me, I come from a good family, but where I was in life [before turning to boxing]"I had more problems than that," said Joshua, who gave no excuses and gave Ruiz total credit for the win (just like Hearn). " I faced very big losses and I bounced back and life is a journey. If I were to watch my failures at the time, and I had to stop doing what I was doing, I would have been angry. But I did not do that. I kept my head strong, I worked as a champion and I managed to bounce back.

"So, I feel like it's part of a trip I'm in. It's boxing, and what I need to do, is reevaluate it." the situation, improve it, and we leave again.We have not come We have not come here to bed under pressure.We have come so far, and I have the feeling that we can certainly go much further. "

Fights that you may have missed

Saturday in San Jacinto, California

Welterweight Ivan Redkach (23-4-1, 18 KO) KO6 Devon Alexander (27-6-1, 14 KO's).

Redkach, 33, a former Ukrainian amateur star fighting in Los Angeles in the main event of the Premier Boxing Champions, was upset by an explosive knockout that might have ended Alexander's career as a leading fighter. Alexander, 32, of St. Louis, former welterweight and junior champion, is separate from his longtime coach and mentor, Kevin Cunningham, to coach with Roy Jones Jr. in preparation for Redkach, who was trained by another elder. King to book, Shane Mosley.

Alexander, the best technician, had a lead of 48-47 on all three scorecards before the sixth round, when Redkach, more aggressive, took control of three assists. He grabbed Alexander with an uppercut for the first overturn, dropped the unstable Alexander a few moments later, then for the third time with a barrage of punches, forcing referee Thomas Taylor to leave the fight after 1 minute, 10 seconds.

That's the best win of his career for Redkach, who went on to welterweight, and a disaster for Alexander, who grossly missed weight (reaching 151.5 lbs) and dropped to 1-4-1 when of his last six fights.

Middleweight Willie Monroe Jr. (24-3, 6 KO's) W10 Hugo Centeno Jr. (27-3, 14 KO's), scores: 98-92, 97-93, 96-94.

Monroe, 32, a left-handed from Rochester, NY, was supposed to challenge Jermall Charlo for his acting middleweight world title on Dec. 22, but Monroe was dismissed from the fight five days earlier for being tested positive for a prohibited substance in a random drug. test. Thus, in his first fight in 10 months, Monroe, who lost the world title fights against Gennady Golovkin and Billy Joe Saunders, returned to face Centeno, 28, of Oxnard, California, and told him inflicted his second defeat in three fights.

Monroe took control from the start, he bleeding Centeno and used his more skillful boxer skills to win the decision, which was surprisingly close to one of the scorecards.

Saturday in Macao, China

Lightweight heavyweight Meng Fanlong (15-0, 9 KOs) Adam Deines W12 (17-1-1, 8 KOs), Eliminator Title, scores: 117-109, 116-110, 115-111.

Fanlong, 31, of China, took the win over world title holder Artur Beterbiev thanks to his victory over his fellow countryman Deines, 28, from Germany, on a map that had taken place at the convention Annual IBF at Wynn Palace. In a rather slow fight, Deines had his best time in the eighth round when he managed a reversal, but Fanlong was a little busier and did a little more to win the judges' head.

Deines also hurt his cause when he hit Fanlong during the 12th round break, which prompted referee Eddie Claudio to penalize him from one point.