BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
That was not the expected end. Nobody, least Anthony Joshua, famous pugilists and new terror in expected to be beaten by an underdog. But he fell. The first, second and third time. BY the time he took a fourth fall the fight ended.
Giving victory to the man people were waiting to know how far he could go before Joshua sent him packing.
Scores of spectators were probably disappointed, not just for the time it took or the fact that he lost, but because the man who gave in to his opponent did not fight like Joshua. The Nigerian, though British citizen, had been expected to give some boxing lessons to his challenger, Andy Ruiz Jnr.
The Mexican-American who humbled Joshua in the seventh round is now the unified WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF heavyweight champion. It was Joshua’s first fight on the American soil. And even the American media believed the fight was for “AJ” to win. After all he had defeated more prominent boxers in the past. His tough fight so far was in 2017 against Wladimir Klitchko who was strong enough to know Joshua down before the celebrated champion gave him a knockout.
He had speculated that if the fight against Ruiz gave him the kind of tough time that he had in the 2017 duel, he would retire. But his manager was quoted after his loss that there might be a repeat of that encounter. Will he fight again or will the champion take a bow?
