Anthony Joshua reclaimed his world champion status by claiming a unanimous points decision over Andy Ruiz Jr, gaining revenge for his June defeat and taking back the WBA, WBO and IBF titles.
The former Olympic champion clinched a convincing victory, taking the scorecards with 118-110, 118-110 and 119-109 margins after delivering an educated game plan to stay out of the reach of the Mexican-American.
Ruiz was able to rough Joshua up when they met for the first time in New York six months ago, dragging himself off the canvas in the third round to knock Joshua down a total of four times on the way to a stunning stoppage victory.
But there would be no knockdowns at all this time around as Joshua smartly stayed out of range, ducking in and out to make Ruiz fight the fight everyone expected first time around. Ruiz attempted to rally late on as he looked for the much-needed knockout, but it never came.
When the scores were read out, there were no raised eyebrows or question marks looming over the Diriyah Arena, though Joshua was swamped by his large entourage as they soaked up the successful revenge mission.
Here’s how our judges, Jack Rathborn, Luke Brown and Jack de Menezes, scored the bout live.
Do you agree? Leave your scorecards in the comments below.
