Heavyweight bout: Anthony Joshua wants Ruiz rematch at England

Anthony Joshua has revealed he wants his rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr to take place on his UK ‘stomping ground’, with Cardiff’s Principality Stadium his preferred option.

Joshua was stunned back in June when he was stopped in the seventh round of his voluntary defence at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The defeat saw him lose his IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO world title belts, as Ruiz became the first ever Mexican heavyweight champion. 

Joshua activated a rematch clause in his contract in the immediate aftermath of the defeat and negotiations have been ongoing regarding the date and venue of the return bout. 

Last week Ruiz claimed he would refuse to fight in the UK following Dillian Whyte’s alleged failed drugs test, claiming a fight in Joshua’s homeland would be a ‘setup’, but Joshua says he will have the final say.

‘Ruiz, I’ve seen he’s done a lot of talking about what he wants, but he don’t call the shots in that sense, it’s a team effort,’ Joshua told Sky Sports.

 ‘It’s fine, I don’t mind fighting him in America, I’ve done it before, and I’d love to fight here because I had no reason to go in the first place. I went there off my own back, so for the rematch now, I would love it to be in Cardiff, however, [if] it’s going to be on neutral ground, Ruiz is the champ, we’ll kind of make some calls as well in that situation.

‘But I’m going to battle for it to be in the UK, because it’s my stomping ground. I done one out there, so let’s do the rematch here.’

Joshua also vowed to ‘whoop’ Ruiz, even if the bout was fought on foreign soil.

‘You’ve got two ends of it,’ he added. ‘There’s one, I’d fight in Tijuana and Ruiz’s uncle could be the referee and I would still whoop him. It don’t matter to me where it is, there’s that aspect, but then there’s the other aspect of the British fans that have been riding with me from day one want to see me get them belts back.

‘Walking out in Cardiff in front of 70, 80, 90,000 people screaming and rooting for you to win, that type of energy that goes through your body is unstoppable, and I think that could give me that little bit of edge I need to win those belts.’

Joshua was stunned by Ruiz in June, when he was stopped in the seventh round in New York

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