Anthony Joshua believes his loss against Andy Ruiz Jr. was merely him granting the Mexican people their wish to have a heavyweight champion.
Joshua, preparing to fight Oleksandr Usyk on September 25th in London, doesn’t seem to be processing his loss.
The Briton was caught by a solid punch, disorientated, and then taken out by Ruiz at Madison Square Garden. But in his eyes, he gave the people what they wanted.
Speaking to ex-footballer Gary Neville for an interview with SkyBet, Joshua’s statements were highly condescending to Ruiz. It attempted to take a lot of shine from his achievements.
Nonetheless, Joshua says his loss was fate bringing happiness to other people.
“So I was in America at the time, and you know, this little chubby guy [Andy Ruiz Jr], this little chubby Mexican [Andy Ruiz Jr] they say beat me,” said AJ. “They say he beat me, yeah, and I know if I would have given up when I lost as an amateur, I would never be here.
“So if I let the ridicule and the stick and the bit of banter kind of get to me now, there’ll be no future. So you just got to keep on rolling, keep on rolling.
“This is my journey at the end of the day. And however I ride, this journey is up to me. The important thing is someone out there is going to take inspiration from your wins and losses.
Asked what he’s learned from the Ruiz humbling, Joshua quipped: “Erm, don’t get hit!
“No, I’m joking. What have I learned? It just sometimes happens. It’s just the way the stars align that night. And there are obviously reasons as to why the stars don’t go that way.
“There’s a lot of things pulling the forces together. Sooner or later, it will or won’t work in your favor. And that night, it didn’t.”
ANDY RUIZ JR RUBBER MATCH
On his future, the Briton added: “I pay my dues and continue my journey. Yeah, I crack on with it, get on with it. There are no negatives with this situation.
“Like for me, even though I lost to Ruiz, look how many Mexicans I made happy! I granted them the first Mexican heavyweight champion of the world.
“My suffering made other people happy. I’ve changed his family’s life. So we can look at it from that perspective, and that’s all life is about.”
Andy Ruiz Jr. may not see it that same way. Hopefully, they can get the rubber match on when Ruiz is actually in shape to fight.
