Joshua, Ruiz rematch to take place in Saudi Arabia
Nigerian-born British boxer, Anthony Joshua will fight heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr in a rematch in Saudi Arabia.
Promoters of the bout made the announcement on Friday with the fight set for December 7.
The fight will take place in Diriyah, a UNESCO World Heritage site of Al-Turaif, located on the outskirts of the capital Riyadh.
The fight, dubbed ‘Clash on the Dunes’, will see Joshua hoping to win back the IBF, WBA and WBO titles he lost to Ruiz Jr.
He lost those titles in New York in June by knockout. That was the first professional loss of Joshua’s career.
This month Anthony Joshua said he was determined to get his “passion” back for boxing ahead of the rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr.
“I feel strong enough and I feel I can correct my wrongs,” Joshua told Sky Sports.
“I need to be around as many boxing people as possible because right now I need to soak in the experience and knowledge – and get that passion back.”
Joshua’s promoter had wanted the rematch to take place in Cardiff at the Principality Stadium, but Ruiz insisted he does not want to fight in the UK.
“It doesn’t matter to me where it is,” Joshua said.
“I would love it to be in Cardiff but it’s going to be on neutral ground, Ruiz is the champ so he will make some calls in that situation.”
Source: Africafeeds.com
