Revenge is sweet for Anthony Joshua as he avenges Andy Ruiz Jr loss
Anthony Joshua hailed the second best win of his career after easing past Andy Ruiz Jr on points to regain his world heavyweight titles in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking at ringside, Joshua told DAZN: "I have the utmost respect for Andy Ruiz who beat me fair and square in the first exam – I failed the first time but I came back and studied him and passed this time.
"This ranks second. The first would be my fight against Wladimir Klitschko – it means so much to me and I learned so much from that fight.
"I respect Wladimir so much and he still gives me so much advice. This fight ranks number two though."
"I know that my fans like to see me knock people out and I can do that but sometimes with certain fighters you have to box smarter," said Joshua.
"I understand what Andy brought to the table so I had to decapitate him in a different way."
Ruiz admitted: "It was his night. I don’t think I prepared as good as I should have. I gained too much weight but I don’t want to give no excuses.
"He won, he boxed me around but if we do the third, you best believe I will come in the best shape of my life.
"I thought I would come in stronger and better. But you know what, next time I am going to prepare better with my team. This time I tried to train myself at times to get prepared."
Asked about the prospect of going on to face either Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury, Joshua added "I have been speaking about these guys a long time.
"This time, when I had the opportunity to focus solely on Andy, my head is in the right place. When Wilder and Fury are really ready, they will make the call.
"Until then, I respect them but I won’t continue to call them out. I am making my own lane and if they want to be a part of that, they will call."