Andy Ruiz Jr has set off to meet Anthony Joshua face-to-face for the first time since becoming world heavyweight champion, shortly after hitting back at his critics.
Ruiz tweeted a picture of himself and his coach Manny Robles after they boarded a flight to Saudi Arabia.
It has been a topsy-turvy few weeks for the Mexican, who has had to deal with criticisms over his ‘partying lifestyle’ in the wake of his victory over Joshua.
Ruiz Jnr first hit back at Tyson Fury after the latter claimed he had been partying too much following his shock victory in New York. He had returned to training ahead of an agreed rematch in Saudi Arabia in December but Fury believes he had been living the high-life too much since.
The former heavyweight champion said: ‘If Andy Ruiz comes in in-shape and has trained, then I think he does the same again.
“But one thing I know is AJ trains hard and he dedicates his life to boxing. I know that Ruiz had been running around in Rolls Royces and doing a lot of TV shows, eating a lot of tacos and he’s not been in the gym for two-and-a-half months. I’ve been speaking to the guys and nobody’s seen him.”
But Ruiz insists he will be ready to take on Joshua and beat him again in December.
“Everyone’s gonna say this and that, but at the end of the day they don’t know s*** but what they see on Instagram,” he said. ”We working. I want them to sleep on me again and think I’m just partying. We coming hard.”
Ruiz and Joshua will stand toe-to-toe with each other on Wednesday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. It marks the start of their promotional tour, which will end when the pair meet in the ring on December 7 back in the Middle East.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
