It did not take very long for Anthony Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn to invoke the rematch clause they had with Andy Ruiz Jr. The British boxer suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Ruiz Jr on June 1 at Madison Square Garden and had to relinquish his WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF titles.
Anthony Joshua who was supposed to be fighting ‘Big Baby‘ was so confident going into his fight with Andy Ruiz Jr. that he did not even take the time to check if he had a re-match clause in the contract. However, Eddie Hearn played it safe and made sure they had a re-match clause which they have now invoked.
Hearn took to Twitter to confirm that after discussions with Joshua, his trainer Rob McCracken and the rest of the team, they decided that the re-match will most likely take place in November or December of 2019.
After meetings with AJ, Rob Mc and the management team in NY, we have today triggered the contracted rematch clause with Andy Ruiz Jnr. The fight will take place in Nov/Dec at a venue to be confirmed shortly.
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) June 4, 2019
Joshua appears to have taken his shock defeat in his stride and will now use the time to work on his weaknesses. The British boxer has not addressed any of the rumours that have been floating around regarding the reason for his loss at Madison Square Garden.
ESPN UK
One of those rumours claim that Joshua’s entrance into the ring was delayed because he suffered a panic attack in the locker room. His father wasn’t keen on letting him fight but Eddie Hearn brushed it off and sent him to the ring. While Joshua did not address this, Hearn took to social media to claim there was no such panic attack and they wouldn’t make any excuses.
Anthony Joshua’s first fight in the United States ended disastrously, giving him the first loss of his career. He is keen to schedule the re-match in the United Kingdom where he will clearly have the home advantage. Hearn said that since the first fight took place in New York, it would be fair to have the second in the UK.
However, Andy Ruiz Jr. and his camp is not buying into that argument. Ruiz says that since he is now the heavyweight champ of the world, he gets to call the shots and will determine where the fight will take place.
Ruiz Jr is now the first Mexican heavyweight boxing champion and he is keen on having the rematch in Mexico, New York or Los Angeles.
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