Andy Ruiz Jr has claimed it was Anthony Joshua who threw a lucky punch in their first meeting.
The chubby heavyweight stunned the boxing world by knocking Joshua down four times before stopping him in the seventh round.
Ruiz relieved the Brit of his three world titles with Joshua claiming he did so with a "lucky punch sent from the Gods".
But as the rivals prepare to clash again next month, the champion has hit back, claiming he wasn't hurt when he was dropped in the third round.
"That was a lucky shot for him, too," Ruiz Jr told Sky Sports. “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.
“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."
Ruiz stepped in at six weeks' notice to face Joshua after Jarrell Miller failed three drug tests.
And the new champion believes the Brit would have beaten anyone else on that famous night in New York.
"If it was another fighter in there, Joshua would have beat him," he said. "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."
