Andy Ruiz Jr. vs Anthony Joshua II, billed as Clash On The Dunes, was a heavyweight professional boxing rematch between the Mexican-American champion Andy Ruiz Jr. and British former champion Anthony Joshua, for the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight world titles. The event took place on December 7, 2019, at the Diriyah Arena, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. Joshua won the bout via unanimous decision. The bout between Ruiz and Joshua was refereed by Luis Pabon.
Background After losing by seventh-round technical knockout to Andy Ruiz Jr. on June 1, 2019, at Madison Square Garden in New York City in one of the biggest upsets in the history of boxing, Joshua stated in a post-fight interview that he and his team certainly expected to exercise the rematch clause with Ruiz. Four days after the fight took place, Joshua's promoter and group managing director of Matchroom Sport Eddie Hearn announced on social media platforms that Joshua's management team triggered the contractual rematch clause with Ruiz.
Saudi Arabian authorities reportedly paid £30million () to host the event in Saudi Arabia.
The fight Joshua dominated the fight, landing smart jabs and right hands throughout enroute to a wide unanimous decision victory with two judges scoring the bout 118–110 and the other 119–109.
Aftermath After his wide defeat Ruiz expressed interest in a third bout with Joshua, saying "I was chasing him too much. Who wants to see the trilogy fight?"
International broadcasters The fight was streamed live on Fight Sports MAX in MENA region (Saudi Arabia as host), DAZN in the United States and seven other countries, and televised live on PPV's Sky Sports Box Office in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Country/RegionBroadcastersFree-to-airCable/Pay televisionPPVStream (host)
colspan="3" Fight Sports MAX colspan="3" rowspan="8" DAZNAzteca 7 colspan="2" Azteca En VivoLatin America
ESPN WatchESPN colspan="2" rowspan="2" Sky Sports Box Office colspan="2" Main Event Balkan countries rowspan="2" Arena SportOrion TV (SRB only)Max TV Go (exclude SRB)RTL colspan="2" RTL PlayBaltic countries
TVPlay SportsTVPlay Sports+ rowspan="4" Eleven Sports rowspan="5" Eleven SportsRTL 7RTL XL colspan="2" rowspan="2" Astro Box OfficeAstro GoDiema SportDiema Play ExtraCCTV colspan="2" CNTV rowspan="3" Sport1 rowspan="3" Digi GO RMC Sport RMC SportMola TV rowspan="2" Mola TV On DemandSport 1Sport 1 Wowow Wowow colspan="2" Sky Arena Nordic countries
colspan="2" ViaplayAzteca 7 colspan="2" Azteca En VivoRPC-TV colspan="2" Medcom GoTap SportsTap GoTVP Sport colspan="2" TVP StreamPro TV rowspan="2" Pro TV PlusVoyoChannel One colspan="2" Channel OneOpenView colspan="3" TV Varzish colspan="2" rowspan="2" MediabaySport colspan="3" SSport+Inter colspan="2" Inter
Fight card Confirmed bouts: Weight ClassWeightvs.MethodRoundTimeNotesHeavyweight+90 kg. Anthony Joshuadef. Andy Ruiz Jr. (c)UD12Super middleweight -76.2 kg. Diego Pachecodef. Selemani SaidiKO1 (4)1:38Heavyweight+90 kg. Alexander Povetkinvs. Michael Hunter12Heavyweight+90 kg. Dillian Whytedef. Mariusz WachUD10Featherweight -57 kg. Hopey Pricedef. Swedi MohamedTKO3 (4)2:22Heavyweight +90 kg. Filip Hrgović (c)def. Éric Molina KO3 (12)2:03Heavyweight+90 kg. Mahammadrasul Majidovdef. Tom LittleTKO2 (8)1:49Lightweight -61.2 kg. Zuhayr Al Qahtanidef. Omar DusaryUD8Lightweight -61.2 kg. Majid Al Naqbidef. Ilia BeruashviliTKO3 (4)
Viewership On Sky Sports Box Office, the fight reportedly broke the all-time UK pay-per-view (PPV) record, according to Eddie Hearn (who said he was told by Sky Sports). The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) revealed that Sky Sports Box Office generated 1.284million buys on fight night, and a further 291,000 buys over the following two weeks, totaling buys in the UK.
On DAZN, the fight was the most streamed event of 2019. It was watched live by approximately 1.8million DAZN subscribers across nine markets, according to The Athletic boxing journalist Mike Coppinger, who also said the fight drew 200,000 new subscribers, with most from the United States.
See also Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr.
References
External links Official website