Boxing
Anthony Joshua has venue in mind for rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr.
The Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz Jr. rematch is likely to take place before the end of the year, but the fighters have not yet agreed to a venue. Allow AJ to offer a suggestion.
Joshua, who lost to Ruiz in the seventh round of a June fight at Madison Square Garden in New York City, would love to battle Ruiz at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Pushing for a match in the United Kingdom could be an uphill battle for Joshua, as Ruiz has resisted the idea of heading to the UK and giving Joshua a home-field advantage.
"Ruiz, I've seen he's done a lot of talking about what he wants, but he don't call the shots in that sense, it's a team effort," Joshua told Sky Sports' Richard Damerell. "It's fine, I don't mind fighting him in America, I've done it before, and I'd love to fight here because I had no reason to go in the first place.
"I went there off my own back, so for the rematch now, I would love it to be in Cardiff, however, [if] it's going to be on neutral ground, Ruiz is the champ, we'll kind of make some calls as well in that situation. But I'm going to battle for it to be in the UK, because it's my stomping ground. I done one out there, so let's do the rematch here. I think it will be amazing before the year is out and I'll definitely be having a lovely new year's with my family."
While Joshua is willing to offer his input on a fight venue, he insists his focus is on recapturing the WBA, IBF and WBO titles Ruiz took from him when he scored a shocking technical knockout at MSG. He claims the fight could be "in Tijuana and Ruiz's uncle could be the referee and I would still whoop him."
"I've taken a step back from the business, so the decisions are due when the decisions are due, and I leave that to the decision-makers," Joshua said. "What I need to focus on now is my training, so I know there's a rematch, I know it's going to be this year."
The former heavyweight champ has shut down any talks of a warm-up bout, so AJ fans can expect him to be standing across from Ruiz the next time he enters the ring — wherever that may be.
