Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz Jr rematch confirmed for November or December
Anthony Joshua will get the chance to win back his IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles in a rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr later this year.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, announced the contracted rematch clause was triggered on Tuesday and the second fight will take place in November or December, with a venue still to be confirmed.
“After meetings with AJ, Rob Mc [Joshua’s trainer Rob McCracken] and the management team in NY, we have today triggered the contracted rematch clause with Andy Ruiz Jnr. The fight will take place in Nov/Dec at a venue to be confirmed shortly,” wrote Hearn in a tweet on Tuesday.
The Briton suffered a shock defeat, the first of his career, when he was stopped by Ruiz Jr in the seventh round at Madison Square Garden last weekend. Joshua said shortly after the fight that he had not even been aware there was a rematch clause. “I didn’t even ask about a rematch clause because I was so confident I was going to win,” he said. “If it’s there, we’ll go again and I’ll get the titles back. I’m going to beat him up. I’m not dwelling on it. You just correct it, you adjust, you sit down, you focus and you go again.”
Hearn said after Saturday’s fight he would want a rematch to take place in the UK, something he reconfirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.
“My gut feeling was the UK but not guaranteed,” he said. “We have to look at everything. The people at [broadcaster] DAZN and Madison Square Garden would like to do part two in the US. Joshua came to Andy Ruiz’s country for the first fight so it kind of makes sense to the second fight in the UK. So we’ll see.”
However, Ruiz has said his preference would be Mexico, Los Angeles or New York. “I’m the champion … I call the shots now,” said Ruiz on Monday.