The boxing world is absolutely gobsmacked and in sheer disbelief after the lightly-regarded Andy Ruiz Jr (33-1, 22 KOs) pulled off a gigantic upset, as he stopped Anthony Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) to become the new IBF, WBA, and WBO heavyweight champion. This was Joshua’s United States debut in front of a pro-Joshua crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York, and it proved to be disastrous.
Joshua was knocked down four times overall, but it was the Brit who put the Mexican-American on the canvas first. It looked as if when Ruiz was floored with a left hook in round three that Joshua would be on his way to his expected win.
Not so fast.
A left to the temple hurt Joshua, as Ruiz traded while hurt, and then he put AJ down with a right hand that permanently changed the course of the fight. Joshua would be dropped again in that same round, then twice more in round seven to put a shocking end to the fight.
If there’s a perfect representation of just how stunned everyone was when Ruiz put Joshua down, look no further than the Sky Sports commentary trio of Adam Smith, Matthew Macklin, and a certain Paulie Malignaggi.
Look at the clip of their faces when the first Joshua knockdown occurred:
Malignaggi’s eyes could not have gotten any bigger, although we did get the unexpected bit where he actually was stunned into silence as Smith was doing some mad gesticulating with his free hand.
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