Anthony Joshua gave little away about his new slimline physique or his tactics to defeat Andy Ruiz Jr in their rematch in the briefest of public workouts in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. He was, however, happy to advertise his powers of prophecy, predicting a trilogy with the Mexican-American whatever the result of the fight on Saturday.
After barely a minute of shadowboxing in a ring in front of a huge government complex in Riyadh, Joshua said Ruiz had been on his mind since he stepped in as a late replacement to meet him in June – and would continue to be whatever the result of their WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight title fight in Diriyah.
“This isn’t the last time I will be seeing Andy Ruiz in the ring,” Joshua said. “I think we make for good fights. I think there is going to be a knockout on Saturday and that is what people want to see, bloodshed and knockouts. And we’ll definitely see each other the third time.”
Joshua, 30, looked relaxed and lean but denied he was deliberately looking for more speed. “I am quick anyway. I am not looking for anything except the win. That’s the objective. It’s not about speed. It’s like night and day. I shed some skin last time. Rebuilt myself. The objective is just about to win, win, win.”
As he left the stage, Joshua posed for selfies with a delighted crowd of local supporters and also stopped briefly to speak to Dillian Whyte, his fellow heavyweight who is also on the bill against Mariusz Wach.
“Bring it back, yeah?” Whyte told him, to which Joshua replied: “We are going to go hard, trust me.”
As they spoke Ruiz was in the ring, looking fast and sharp as he went through three rounds on the pads. Meanwhile Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, told the Guardian that the British fighter will come in more than half a stone lighter than his first fight against Ruiz having spent much less time lifting weights.
“I don’t like talking about weight because last time I said he would be at his lightest ever and he came in at his heaviest ever,” he said. “But you will see something.
“He was 17st 10lb in the first fight but he’s much, much lighter now. I think he’ll weigh around 17st 2lb. He’s not been pumping weights, he’s been watching his diet, eating really clean. This camp has been 15 or 16 weeks not 10 or 11 as normal. He’s been sparring, sparring, sparring.”
Hearn added: “He looks great, he feels great and he is lean, lean. He has cut out a lot of strength and conditioning work and this camp has been boxing related. He is boxing fit.”
