Underdog pulls off stunning upset to take heavyweight boxing title
He just shocked the world.
In a stunning outcome, challenger Andy Ruiz stripped boxing's heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua of his belt on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. It was the first loss of Joshua's professional career.
The American-born Ruiz, who is now the first heavyweight champion of Mexican descent, scored a technical knockout in the seventh round to secure the title, which is already considered one of the biggest upsets in the sport in decades — Sports Illustrated compared it to Buster Douglas' defeat of Mike Tyson in 1990. Ruiz was an 11-1 underdog going into the fight.
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The victory was no fluke, though. Ruiz floored Joshua four times over the course of the evening and BBC writes the fight was "a breakdown of a fighter who looked shattered from an early stage."
Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, said a rematch is already being planned for later in the year. "This will devastate him," Hearn said of Joshua's defeat. "He will come back."
