The sleepwalking former champion Joshua, who had retreated to his corner and removed his mouthpiece after the last of the four knockdowns, could not muster the answers to the referee's questions. GettyIn a stroke, or more accurately, with the brutal, cumulative effect of his four knockdowns that completely unmanned Joshua, Ruiz provided the heavyweight division with a revolution in the form of a massive, fresh straight-out-of-Southern California breeze of uncertainty. For his part, in the runup to the fight, Joshua limned all that a young Achilles could do, trained to a fare-the-well, his ironclad confidence in battle skills bolted firmly to his chest. And to Joshua's further credit, once in the ring, the then-still-nominal champion did brush Ruiz to the mat early in the third. GettyFreighted immediately with his new belts in the ring, the new American heavyweight champion will have a lot to face in the coming months, not the least of which will be some kind of decision about his next moves.

Source: Forbes June 02, 2019 08:04 UTC