What Anthony Joshua Told Andy Ruiz Jr After Victory Shows His Class

Anthony Joshua has revealed he told Andy Ruiz Jr to 'never give up' after reclaiming his world titles in Saudi Arabia.

Joshua regained his titles via unanimous decision on Saturday night and he shared an embrace with Ruiz Jr at the end.

Following the fight, the 30-year-old said per The Sun:

"I said, 'Never give up.'

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"I just told him to never give up. It's tough.

"'You're a great man, first of all, and you're a great champion as well.'

"But I told him to never give up and just keep on chasing his dream.

"Boxing's really tough, but he's created his own history, he's created his own legacy. And I created mine tonight.

"I'm glad we could both play a part in each other's legacy.

"So I just kind of gave him a pat on the back and said, 'I'm sure I'll see you again.'"

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There was no repeat of the shocking result in June as Joshua remained relatively comfortable in every round.

He came into the fight weight three stone less than the champion, who had put on a stone from their previous encounter.

The Brit also smartly kept his distance from the slugger and didn't take any unnecessary risks.

Now that Joshua has regained his world titles, he'll have a big target on his back.

He also told BBC Sport that regaining his titles made him 'emotional'.

"I didn't want to get too carried away but it is emotional,

"I'm a man that has made mistakes and when I was on a losing path in life, I matured and bounced back."

Questions were also raised about potentially challenging Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder in the future.

Those two are set to clash on February 22 and the winner of that clash will have their eyes on Joshua.

But 'AJ' said that he won't be calling them out as he doesn't want to 'lose focus'.

"I won't continue to call them out,

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"I am making my own lane and if they want to be a part of that, they will call. Ruiz did it and created a legacy.

"If those guys want to do it, they can create a legacy too. Look at all I have done, come on. When I call them out and do all of that, I lose focus."

His next fight is set to be against WBO mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk.

Topics: Boxing News, Andy Ruiz Jr, Anthony Joshua, Boxing

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

@DanMarland_