JOSHUA A GHOST BUSTER
AJ roars in triumph and relief after tactical masterclass to reclaim heavyweight titles
HE said he wouldn’t celebrate. If he won back his world heavyweight belts, he wouldn’t punch the air or scream in delight.
But when the moment came, Anthony Joshua let out a roar, expelling the demons who had lurked inside him since that shattering loss to Andy Ruiz six months ago.
He knew he had righted the wrong of Madison Square Garden.
And a beaming Joshua explained he just had to go with the flow when he saw the outpouring of emotion from his team.
The new two-time world heavyweight king said: “I saw my sparring partners and we all put so much into the victory that we’re all part of this, so I just had to ride that wave.
“I had to ride that wave because what they felt just beamed on to me.
“As much as I wanted to keep my cool, I just let that roar out and got involved in that crowd.”
Joshua remained in the ring long after most of the 15,000 crowd inside the rain-soaked Diriyah Arena had slipped away, wallowing in his success.
He had earned it for producing the kind of tactical masterclass his critics doubted he could deliver.
His stock, which had been so badly damaged by his seven-round stoppage six months ago, was restored and perhaps even enhanced.
After making Ruiz look like Mike Tyson in June, he made him look like Mr Blobby on Saturday night.
Joshua never deviated from the game plan as he used his jab to box at range.
He did not let Ruiz draw him into the slugfest he wanted and stayed out of the danger zone of the pocket.
Entertaining it was not and punters at the adjacent funfair enjoyed much more in the way of thrills.
But Joshua was not here to end up on the wrong end of another thrilling shoot-out, like he was in New York.
He said: “I’m getting more and more experienced. Understanding myself, that’s a good thing. I took my loss and I had to learn, didn’t I?
“I boxed to my own game plan, I trusted my own process. Simplicity is genius. That
DAVID ANDERSON IN RIYADH was my motto – keeping it simple will lead to a genius performance. It was outclassing a champion.
“I just took it back to the old school, 70s style. Boxing is the sweet science, hit without being hit.
“There were times when I looked in Andy’s eyes and I wanted to put my fist through his head but then I remembered, this is boxing.
“I needed to win for myself and to show people this is the sweet science of the sport.”
Joshua controlled the rematch from the first bell, establishing his jab, and cut Ruiz above his left eye with a pearler of a right hand in the first round.
Joshua sustained a small cut above his left eye in the second but never lost his iron grip on the fight.
Ruiz had isolated successes but Joshua’s jab beat his flab. The Englishman’s lighter frame gave him the mobility to stay out of range, while Ruiz’s additional 15lbs slowed him down.
He lacked the fitness to cut off the ring and lamely followed his rival around for 12 rounds like some out-of-condition park jogger.
The ultimate dad bod was beaten. Joshua’s authority – and Ruiz’s frustration – grew and he knew he was no longer the champion long before the judges’ scorecards were read out.
American Glenn Feldman and Canada’s Benoit Roussel gave Joshua all 12 rounds, while Britain’s Steve Gray, perhaps simply out of sympathy, gave Ruiz one.
Joshua added: “I knew the belts were coming home.
“They spent a long time with me and then, at Andy’s house, they were crying to come back to daddy.”
Back they are and Joshua is the daddy once more.