BLURRED LINES
Anthony Joshua concussed during savage beating by Andy Ruiz Jr
ANTHONY JOSHUA had no idea where he was after suffering a concussion in his devastating defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr.
The Watford star lost his three heavyweight world title belts to the 19st rank outsider likened to the chubby kid star of cartoon film Up.
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Four times AJ was thumped to the canvas, spitting out his gumshield and holding himself upright on the ropes.
Promoter Eddie Hearn said: “He was definitely slightly concussed but he felt he lost to a better fighter.
“I don’t think he knew where he was, he did not know where he was.
“He spat out his gumshield, probably to try to get more time from the referee and then he could hardly stand up.
“He was looking at the referee and the referee asked if he could continue and he said ‘yes’.
“But the fight was done, I would love to say it was an early stoppage but he was done and he did not know where he was.”
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ROUND ACTION
Round One
Cagey, but Ruiz Jr landed cleaner.
Round Two
Joshua evened it up.
Round Three
Ruiz floored, but came back to drop AJ twice.
Round Four
Joshua all over the place. Ruiz dominant.
Round Five
Joshua looks laboured, asks corner what round it is at end.
Round Six
Shock is well and truly on. AJ asks corner why he doesn't feel good.
Round Seven
It's waved off after Joshua dropped twice. Stunning.
TOO MUCH RING RUST
The 29-year-old had not boxing since September and looked short of fitness when he was under pressure.
And Hearn admitted he probably had not boxed enough in recent years to be ring-ready.
After a busy start to his career, Joshua boxed just twice in 2018 and again in 2017 and Hearn saw the rust in the Madison Square Garden ring.
He said: “I did think that sitting there tonight. It’s difficult to jump in after eight months.
“He was supposed to box in April originally and then this opportunity presented itself.
“It’s easy to ask now if going Miami for a five-week camp affected him, you could look at so many things.
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“But I can tell you that at not point during fight week did we have any problems, he was confident.”
Joshua cut short his in-ring interview, saying that it was "Andy's night".
He also uploaded a photo to his Instagram account just over an hour later repeating that same feeling.
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