Anthony Joshua admits he was not fully focused before his shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr and has revealed that the boos he heard during his loss in New York had an impact on his tactics for the fight.
Joshua suffered the first defeat of his career at Madison Square Garden in June as he was knocked down four times before Ruiz sealed his surprise victory in the seventh round.
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Joshua has come under scrutiny for his preparations before his fight against Ruiz, with his promoter Eddie Hearn claiming that the 29-year-old was not ‘war ready’ before his debut in the United States. And now Joshua admits he was concentrating more on a unification fight against Deontay Wilder than facing Ruiz, who was a late replacement for Jarrell Miller. ‘With this fight here, I feel like where I’ve been fighting for so many years, when I came into the boxing arena, it was like I was steamrolling through,’ Joshua told JD Sports.
Continuing AJ said:’My purpose for that fight was, ‘am I fighting Wilder next?’. ‘The purpose for that fight was, ‘what is he doing next?’, it wasn’t solely on winning that fight. ‘This fight, in terms of what it meant, there was no real gain in it. ‘So beating Ruiz, I could be sitting here now and it wouldn’t have meant as much to me as it is to train for the rematch. ‘Everything it meant to Ruiz winning, is everything it didn’t mean to me beating him.’