Anthony Joshua’s new training cog in a three-man machine, Angel Fernandez, has given his thoughts on the excuses laid down by Andy Ruiz Jr.
Ruiz blamed his three-month stint celebrating ripping Joshua’s belts away in New York on June 1st on weighing over TWENTY STONE for the return in December.
Subsequently, the Mexican-American was too slow. Ruiz was easily nullified by Joshua in Saudi Arabia.
Fernandez has now aired his reaction to Ruiz, along with his verdict on whether a third fight – already ‘a trillion percent’ confirmed by Joshua – should go ahead.
Asked if the Ruiz excuses for being overweight and partying took away the glamour of win, Fernandez exclusively told World Boxing News: “To such a point, yes because to be honest.
“When Joshua lost in New York, he took it like a man. One of the first things that he said was, listen tonight it’s about the man. He won the titles so give the credit and attention to him.
“The first thing Ruiz said after was, ‘oh I’ve been partying. I shouldn’t have been doing that. I should have been doing this’.
REPEAT
“It’s quite disappointing but when he came in at the weigh-in, I thought wow, this guy is going to try and go quick at him. Actually, I remember telling him that this guy is probably going to try and take you back to what happened in New York.
“I said if you go past the first five or six rounds with him, he’ll definitely be slowing down. But Ruiz tried and I think Joshua was just not there for him, it frustrated him.
“One way, maybe Ruiz is saying this is to make the third fight happen – I don’t know. That’s a question you should ask Ruiz, to be honest. Maybe he was thinking the public would go and say let’s see the third fight.”
TRILOGY
On whether that trilogy should happen, Fernandez added: “For me, I don’t see a point of a third fight. Joshua has proved he’s been too much for him.
“In the second fight, for him to come up with that type of excuse, I don’t think he should have said that. Especially when Joshua has been a gent.
“Everyone was saying that was not the same Joshua and something happened to him on the first fight. But he never made an excuse.
“He (Ruiz) kind of took some of the glamour from the performance by Joshua on the night,” he concluded.
Joshua has two mandatories challengers in his immediate future due to stipulations with the IBF and WBO.
Ruiz will almost certainly require a big name on his future record in order to be in the running for another installment with the unified champion.
