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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Martin Domin

Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr ring girls axed for Saudi Arabia rematch

There will be no ring girls for Anthony Joshua's rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr on Saturday night.

The long-standing boxing tradition has been scrapped in order to respect the culture of Saudi Arabia which will host the heavyweight sequel.

The desert country has strict laws governing what women can wear in public and with ring girls wearing skimpy outfits, they will be unable to take part.

The WWE faced a similar problem when they took their promotion to the country on Halloween with the female wrestlers dressing more conservatively than normal.

Joshua and Ruiz had looked set to lock horns again in Cardiff before Saudi Arabia swooped with a huge late bid.

There will be no ring girls in Saudi Arabia (Icon Sport via Getty Images)

The Brit will bid to win back the three heavyweight world titles he lost to Ruiz in June having been dropped four times and stopped in the seventh round.

Arriving in Saudi, Joshua said: "It’s going to be an incredible night and I’m thrilled so many of my fans are going to be there, particularly from the UK.

"It’ll definitely be a night people will tell their grandchildren they were at, one of those iconic evenings of boxing. Everyone from Saudi has been brilliant to work with."

(AFP/Getty Images)

Ruiz stepped in at just six weeks' notice to fight Joshua at Madison Square Garden and plans to repeat his victory this weekend.

“It’s amazing man, it’s crazy how they built everything in a month and a half," he said.

"It’s amazing to be fighting over here, it’s going to be really historic and I’m planning to make history over here.

"It’s a lot different. When I first got here none of this was here so it’s unbelievable.”

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