The Thing Anthony Joshua Is Doing To Beat Andy Ruiz

 

Eddie Hearn, promoter for Anthony Joshua, says his boxer is preparing for his rematch with Andy Ruiz by sparring with "small and chubby" opponents.

Joshua was dropped four times and stopped in seven rounds by Ruiz, back on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The victory gave Ruiz the WBA, IBF, IBO, WBO heavyweight titles.

A rematch is scheduled for December 7th, in Saudi Arabia.

Ruiz was a late replacement for Jarrell Miller, who was pulled from the fight after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.

"It's madness. There's eight weeks to go, and he's been in camp for four weeks already," Hearn told Fino Boxing, according to The Mirror.

"A lot of early sparring now is replicating the style of Ruiz. Last time we had probably three weeks of sparring, and it was tough to find a guy like Ruiz, because there aren't many like him. Small, a little bit chubby, fast hands, and really good on the inside. Now we've replicated that, I feel like the preparation is going to be great."

As BoxingScene.com previously reported, Ruiz is expecting to be in much better shape for the rematch - not that he has a longer training camp to prepare.

"I will arrive in better condition.... lighter, faster and more powerful," Ruiz said to ESPN Deportes. "They will believe that in December they will win.

"People will always talk like this, but I have faith that we're going to win and shut up more mouths I have a lot of respect for Anthony, outside the ring he is a very good man. But inside [the ring] there are no friends, there is no respect or anything.

"It will not be an easy fight. I think it will be a hard fight, but nothing is easy in life, so we are training very hard. We will be prepared for whatever he brings."