Job done as Ruiz is left to make excuses

NEVER mind the excuses being thrown out by Andy Ruiz. Anthony Joshua deserves great credit for executing the perfect game plan on Saturday and coming through the biggest lesson of his boxing career.

Don’t be fooled by Ruiz saying he didn’t prepare properly. This guy is not an idiot. He has bags of experience and he came in looking to be heavy, as he believed that would work.

There were still lots of experts expecting Ruiz to beat Joshua. They doubted Joshua had the mental strength and discipline to see this type of fight through. Joshua proved them wrong.

He stayed behind his jab, came out on an angle and stepped left to right, negating the hooks Ruiz had used so effectively in the first fight. The temptation for him throughout his career has always been to get involved in heavy exchanges, that’s what cost him in June. But this needed a different mindset.

There were a few scares when Joshua nearly deviated from the plan. You could see in the seventh round he was a little flat-footed and in the eighth he was getting lured in before he must have thought, ‘S***! I’ve got to step out of here’. Then he got back to it, switched on and saw the job through.

Now, like Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis, Anthony Joshua has won an immediate rematch for the heavyweight title.

That’s great for his legacy but, more importantly, Joshua will never underestimate a fighter again... no matter what they look like.

Oleksandr Usyk is the mandatory challenger, a dangerous guy I believe can dominate the heavyweight division in the long-term. He is a chess player and he will be formulating a plan now to dismantle Joshua.

Indeed, all the challengers will be licking their lips, thinking Joshua is vulnerable. But those who have mocked his downfall are silly. They should be grateful, as this is the guy who brought the big money to the division.

They should be wary, too, because what we saw on Saturday night tells us he has the appetite to emerge a smarter and sharper boxer who won’t give up his belts as easily again.