Andy Ruiz Jr has admitted he was nervous before facing Anthony Joshua - but knew he could win when he took a right hand flush in the face.
The Mexican-American was dropped himself in the third round of the heavyweights' first meeting - but returned the favour twice before the bell.
He then knocked Joshua down twice in the seventh session before the fight was waved off as Ruiz pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the sport's history.
And ahead of thier rematch in Saudi Arabia on Saturday week, the new champion revealed his confidence soared when he took Joshua's best shot and didn't budge.
"When I got up, he got me with the perfect right hand that could have knocked anybody out," he told JD Sports .
"I think having that will of wanting to win and wanting to bounce back helped me a lot, but after I knocked him down I was like, 'F*** yeah man, I’m in the game'.
"He knocked me down, I got up, I knocked him down and I had the will to keep going and knock him out again."
Joshua has claimed Ruiz caught him with a 'punch from the gods' as he suffered concussion from the clip to the side of the head.
But Ruiz insists the reverse is true and that he was only dropped because he took his eye off the ball.
"A lot of people are saying it was a lucky shot, and this and that… I feel it was a lucky shot he got me with because I kind of got confident and got lazy when he got me with the uppercut," he added.
"I was just standing there and he got me.
"I was nervous, I didn't know what I was getting myself into; all i knew was I was facing the guy that it was unthinkable that... nobody thought I was going to win, nobody thought that I could beat AJ.
"Look at this chubby little kid with heart, with a desire and a big dream that just wanted to prove everybody wrong.
"From the beginning I kept telling people, ‘You know what, I’m going to win, I’m going to become the champion of the world and what do yo know, I ended up doing it."
