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Anthony Joshua Clearly Knew He Was In Trouble Before The 7th Round

Anthony Joshua Clearly Knew He Was In Trouble Before The 7th Round

The former undefeated heavyweight champion of the world was on the losing end of one boxing's biggest ever upsets on Saturday night.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Anthony Joshua was on the wrong side of one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight boxing history and the former WBA, IBF, WBO champion clearly wasn't feeling right going into what ended up being the final round.

You can add Andy Ruiz Jr's name to Buster Douglas and Hasim Rahman to the list of people who have pulled off the biggest shocks in the history of heavyweight boxing.

All three men became heavyweight champion of the world when they upset the odds, Douglas against Mike Tyson, Rahman against Lennox Lewis and on Saturday night in New York it wa Ruiz turn as he stopped formerly undefeated Anthony Joshua in his tracks.

It was AJ who scored the first knockdown of the fight in the third round but as the Brit tried to finish the fight early he found himself on the canvas in the same round, not once but twice.

Ruiz downed the champion for a third time in the seventh round and then once more in the same round before the referee called it off.

However even before the final three minutes the 2012 Olympic champion knew he was in trouble. One fan spotted that AJ clearly asked his corner, "Why am I feeling like this though?" before the seventh:

Ruiz had lost just once, in his previous attempt to become world champion against Joseph Parker, but coming with just six weeks notice, after replacing Jarrell Miller, no one gave the Mexican a chance.

Instead the shorter man proved all sorts of trouble for Joshua and his win made him boxing's first ever heavyweight champion of the world.

Ruiz holding all his titles. Image: PA Images
Ruiz holding all his titles. Image: PA Images

After the fight AJ was very respectful of his opponent saying, "I got beaten by a good fighter. It will be interesting to see how far he goes, but this is all part of the journey.

"He's a champion for now, I shall return."

The 29 year old only needs to look at the past for inspiration as fellow former British heavyweight champions Lennox Lewis came back to defeat Rahman, his Ruiz, in the rematch later that year.

Hopefully, like Lewis and Tyson, this will just be a blip on Joshua's career.

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Topics: Heavyweight boxing, Mike Tyson, Tyson Fury, Boxing News, Andy Ruiz Jr, Andy Ruiz, Anthony Joshua, Boxing, Lennox Lewis, Deontay Wilder