Anthony joshua receives stark andy ruiz jr ko warning from holyfield

Evander Holyfield has warned Anthony Joshua he’ll suffer the same fate in his rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr if he doesn’t make drastic changes to his preparations. Joshua relinquished the WBA

(Super), WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles to the Mexican-American in June. Ruiz Jr, a late replacement for the disgraced Jarrell Miller, suffered a seventh-round TKO loss to the

Mexican-American, whom many tipped him to handily beat. The Brit will get the opportunity to exact revenge on in Saudi Arabia on December 7. Joshua has shed a lot of muscle in the build-up

to his second meeting with ‘The Destroyer’, a decision many believe he’s made in order to be more mobile in the bout. Holyfield is looking forward to seeing how the rematch pans out but is

adamant the same fate will befall ‘AJ’ if he adopts the same approach he used that fateful night at Madison Square Garden. 'The Real Deal' told _World Boxing News_: “You look at

Ruiz and he doesn’t look like he can fight at all. Nothing tells you he can fight, but he can fight. “I knew that he could fight because I sparred with him. At the time, I was 46 and he was

19. I couldn’t believe a 19-year-old could be that good and so aggressive, he would chase me down. “I’m like, ‘I’m the heavyweight champion of the world, who’s he trying to chase down?’ It

was just amazing the confidence that he had and the persistence to cut the ring down even in sparring. “So, I know that persistently, he will fight that same fight that he fought last time.

"If he’s (Joshua) not ready to have someone in his face in the whole fight then it could end up the same way again.” Holyfield reckons Ruiz Jr is criminally underrated, adding: “Andy

Ruiz Jr. really can fight. “He has fast hands and can really hit hard. But don’t nobody seem to know it. “Everyone is thinking it’s a fluke (that he beat Anthony Joshua the first time), but

the guy showed he can get up from being knocked down. He got took down and got back up to win.” Joshua, 30, is relishing the opportunity to exact revenge on Ruiz Jr and silence his critics,

saying: “I feel I was up against the good challenger at the time. "And as I mentioned I was only champion until June 1. “And as Andy’s champion right now, that will last until December

7. Until he has to put his titles in the air and two warriors go to war and the best man walks out victorious. I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”