Andy Ruiz’s monumental upset win over Anthony Joshua will forever hold a place in boxing history.
Ruiz was a relative unknown in the boxing world, until he was thrust into the biggest opportunity of his life as a short-notice replacement for Jarrell Miller in a unified heavyweight world title clash against Anthony Joshua in June 2019 on AJ’s US debut.
The Mexican came in as an overwhelming underdog given little hope in the fight, but caused one of the biggest upsets in boxing history by dropping Joshua four times en route to a famous win in New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden.
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It was a monumental achievement which was regularly compared to Buster Douglas’ phenomenal upset of Mike Tyson, and it was masterminded alongside trainer at the time Manny Robles.
In an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.com, Robles, who will work as a coach in the upcoming Team Combat League, has opened up about exactly how he believed five years ago that they could rewrite history inside the ‘Mecca of Boxing’, due to the perfect timing of the call.
He said: “It wasn’t really at short notice, what people don’t know is we were just coming off of a fight with Alexander Dimitrenko in LA.
“So we went through a full camp, and a week later we had the fight with Anthony Joshua.
“So we got back into the ring and the timing was perfect.
“We fought someone who was very similar to Joshua, a week later we then got the call for the huge fight against Joshua.
“So we had like a month in camp, but the hard work was already done as Dmitrenko was very similar to Joshua, a big strong and solid guy.
“The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, and we were able to win the heavyweight championships of the world.
Seismic shockwaves travelled through the boxing world, after Ruiz was left bouncing around the ring in a famous celebration after defying all odds.
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Joshua was clearly not at his best, but the Mexican had shown defiance and a serious boxing skillset while carrying out a turgid game plan to capitalise on AJ’s weaknesses on the night.
Despite the defeat, the Briton was seriously gracious to Ruiz and his attitude helped earn him an immediate shot at redemption just several months later.
“People don’t know this, but to this day after that night I look up to Anthony Joshua,” he continued.
“He is a role model to people around the world, athletes and people in general. He is someone that kids should inspire to be like.
“He is such a gentleman outside of the ring, he is so humble. Even in defeat, he is humble enough to keep his head up.
Ruiz was unable to keep hold of the titles, having admitted he got carried away with celebrations and did not prepare adequately for the rematch in February 2020, which the Briton won on points.
Robles has since split with Ruiz, and the pair have not spoken for several years since pulling off the remarkable feat as a seemingly unbreakable team.
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Since this day, AJ has suffered two more defeats to Oleksandr Usyk but has again responded putting together a neat win streak under new coach Ben Davison.
