Anthony Joshua soaks pressure and sheds demons to triumph against Andy Ruiz in fight for his life

Briton joins Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis as only heavyweights to regain their titles in immediate rematches

There was a heavy sombrero, a deluge, enough fear in the ring to create a serious mood and then Anthony Joshua fought to a simple plan against Andy Ruiz here under a swollen sky of foul weather.

Joshua won by using the oldest of boxing’s ancient doctrines: hit and don’t get hit. He won without any doubt ten of the completed twelve rounds and probably nicked the other two during a display of intuitive, calculated and sensibly risk-free boxing in a fight with serious overtones of dread. It seems strange now, the morning after, but a lot of people - especially American fight people - really thought Ruiz would walk through him.

In the end, the scores from the trio of judges only confirmed what 15,000 witnesses to history in the Middle East had just watched - Joshua had his world titles, dignity and life back. It was, at the close, an emotional night once the last bell had sounded and Joshua could let his real feelings flow and no longer had to fight to strict orders.

“When I started boxing I was still on tag,” said Joshua, speaking on the ring apron. “I had to rush out of the gym and report - that is me. I’m proof of those dreams kids like me had. I did it, you can to.” Joshua’s hard and messy journey is neglected and the glossy package is often all that is seen. In Riyadh this week, the real Joshua has been on display.

However, it needs to be forcibly asserted that for all of Joshua’s control, precision, grit and guile, the night was a total disaster for nice-guy, poster-boy for fat athletes and Mexican idol, Ruiz. The story of his poor performance started the day before when, wearing an ornate sombrero, he topped the scales at a whopping 20 stone and three pounds, a gain of 15 pounds from the night in June when he dropped Joshua four times, stopped him in seven and became world heavyweight champion in New York. I was told the sombrero weighed seven pounds and there was a thin and weak effort to dismiss the excess bulge as an irrelevancy; it was not, it was a disgraceful abuse of his status and Ruiz came, troublesome sombrero in hand, to apologise after the fight.

“The partying finished me,” admitted Ruiz. “I was too heavy, but I never listened. I should have listened before the fight and during the fight. I’m sorry. I gave him a rematch, I hope he gives me a rematch.” There is no appetite for a third fight and Ruiz knew that even as he said the words.

Ruiz was a soft, easy target for Joshua, who had weighed ten pounds lighter than he was for the calamitous first fight, and he danced all night. He moved with ease, seldom panicked and Ruiz was unable to get close enough, often enough to change the fight. Joshua could have probably put a bit more pressure on during the last three rounds, but by then the victory was secure - why take risks for a fancy finish that could have also left him in a sad pile on the canvas. “It was about simple boxing,” said Joshua and he is right. The plan was made by Robert McCracken, his loyal trainer. There had been calls for McCracken’s head in New York; thankfully that was not repeated here.

Joshua had vowed not to celebrate the win, had said that he was here in Saudi Arabia to simply get his boxing career back, and once the wide verdict was announced he initially stood alone, arms crossed, perhaps challenging his detractors, the people that insisted he quit in New York and would quit again. That, it seems, was Ruiz’s grand plan, a deformed brief discussed at a swollen buffet. It took a while for the Joshua smile, that trademarked grin to take over and in the ring there was relief and genuine joy after the fight.

Anthony Joshua celebrates with his promoters after the fight (PA)

The future might just become instantly murky for Joshua, but nobody was thinking of the forced deadlines from the many people that run the various sanctioning bodies. Joshua has a WBO appointment before the end of June with a Ukrainian called Oleksandr Usyk. The IBF and WBA will also make demands. Who cares? If any of sanctioning bodies are happy to strip Joshua, then they should be individually jettisoned forever from the sport.

Joshua joins Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis as the only heavyweights to have regained their titles in immediate rematches. Ruiz joins a sadly disgraced list of champions who lost their heavyweight title and their pride on a dance floor and in the blue glow of light from a fridge door, wedged open at midnight in the latest search for grub. Pity, Ruiz is such a nice guy.

Joshua is also a nice guy, often accused of being too heavily branded, too cautious with his words, but here during a long week of intense pressure he was professional, open and brutally honest about the consequences of a loss. He absorbed the pressure, the negatives, the demons and once the first bell sounded he fought the smartest fight of his life. And he was, make no mistake, fighting for his life.