Anthony Joshua spent much of the past six months soul searching, figuring out what went so wrong in his first encounter with Andy Ruiz Jr. and vowing to be better in the rematch.
He was better. Much better, as he completely shut down Ruiz in a dominating tactical masterpiece to regain his three heavyweight world title belts by lopsided unanimous decision on Saturday at the rain-soaked, temporary 15,000-seat open-air Diriyah Stadium in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia in the first heavyweight world title fight to take place in the Middle East.
British judge Steve Gray scored it 119-109 and Glen Feldman of the United States and Benoit Russell of Canada each had it 118-110 as Joshua sent Ruiz into boxing history as a one-hit wonder like heavyweights Buster Douglas and Hasim Rahman, who also had one big night to win heavyweight titles by upset knockout.