Anthony Joshua regained his WBO, IBF, IBO and WBA heavyweight belts in a rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr. on Saturday in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. Joshua got the belts back via unanimous decision after fighting for 12 rounds (118-110, 118-110 & 119-109).

Joshua fought on the outside for all of the fight, consistently jabbing Ruiz away and using his height and reach advantage.

“The first time was so nice, I had to do it twice,” said Joshua in the ring after the fight, talking about becoming a two-time champion.

“I gained too much weight, but I don’t want to make any excuses,” said Ruiz, talking about coming into the fight at 283 lbs, 15 more pounds than his first meeting with Joshua.

Ruiz asked the crowd afterwards who wanted to see a trilogy fight between the two.

In the co-main event of the evening, undefeated Diego Pacheco got a first round knockout victory over Selemani Saidi in a fight that was scheduled for four rounds.

In the bout before that, rising heavyweight fighter Michael Hunter fought to a draw with 40-year-old veteran Alexander Povetkin.

 

It was announced Friday afternoon that the heavyweight rematch between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz will take place on December 7th in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. The fight was originally announced by The Athletic, with Anthony Joshua posting a poster for the event online minutes later. Rumours of the location were also reported by The Athletic earlier in the week.

The rematch comes after Andy Ruiz Jr. upset Anthony Joshua in a seven round performance, scoring four knockdowns. The fight gave him the WBA Super, IBF, WBO and IBO Heavyweight championships which Joshua had before.

With the tagline “Clash of The Dunes,” the rematch will take place in a newly built outdoor stadium, per Mike Coppinger of The Athletic. It was also reported that a press conference will take place in London on Monday by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and Saudi Arabian representatives.

Prior to the recent days, rumours floated around about many locations for the rematch. The three big locations that people talked about were the USA, Mexico and the United Kingdom.