Anthony Joshua became a two-time world heavyweight champion with a unanimous points victory over Andy Ruiz Jr.
He out-pointed Ruiz in Saudi Arabia to avenge his shock defeat by the Mexican in June., Joshua risked seeing his career left in tatters with a second defeat, but served up 36 minutes of movement and well-timed punching to take the IBF, WBA and WBO titles back to Britain.
Ruiz never looked close to landing a knockdown and when scores of 118-110 118-110 and 119-109 were read out, Joshua jumped up and down in the ring in celebration, just as the man who had wrecked his US debut did in June.
Anthony Joshua said he was “emotional” after beating Andy Ruiz Jr to become a two-time world heavyweight champion – and is ready to “rock and roll” with Oleksandr Usyk within six months.
Joshua now joins a small cluster of men including Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and Floyd Patterson to have reclaimed the world heavyweight title.