Despite his recent defeat by Andy Ruiz Jnr, they favor former world heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, to win their return fight.
Ruiz was the clear-cut underdog when he beat Joshua with a seventh-round TKO in New York on June 1. It followed a number of knock-downs against the odds and cost the British boxer the unified world heavyweight title.
Those titles, now all owned by Ruiz, included the IBF, WBO, IBO and WBA ‘Super’ world heavyweight titles.
Ruiz now also owns a record that pretty much matches Joshua’s. He has lost one fight while winning 34 with 24 knockouts. Joshua has now also lost one fight while winning 22 with 21 knockouts.
Ruiz stunning victory, however, has not changed much as far as New Jersey’s sportsbooks are concerned.
The first Mexican to win a world heavyweight title remains their underdog for the big rematch in Saudi Arabia on December 7.
The odds 33/100 on Anthony Joshua
In a good reflection of the odds currently available in New Jersey, 888sport are offering +225 (9/4) on him. Against this their current odds on Joshua regaining his titles are -305 (33/100). Their odds on a draw are +2500 (25/1).
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk has been named by the WBO as their mandatory challenger for the Joshua v Ruiz winner.
Looking back at the first Joshua-Ruiz encounter, we must take note of a few things.
To start with Ruiz only came into it as a late replacement for Jarrell Miller after Miller failed three drug tests. Joshua and his handlers may well have under-rated Ruiz and perhaps did not know enough about his strengths and weaknesses.
Ruiz also struck early and quickly unsettled Joshua who had never lost a fight. Until then had also won all but one of them with knock-outs.
The Brit managed to floor Ruiz in the third round, but it only seemed to fire up the Mexican. He came right back with a knock-down of his own and the damage seemed to have been done. Joshua was put down three more times in the next four rounds and the fight was stopped.
Ruiz recently told the media he would win again, “I know his flaws; I can do a lot better. The only thing he can do is just run around; he’s not good at boxing.”
With his impressive knock-out record, Joshua can’t be too bad even though he is not making similar boasts. He has been quoted as saying he vows to deal with the defeat and come back stronger than ever. “I took a loss and I have to take it like a man.”
The more humble of the two could well do that and more – if the bookmakers are right. They fully expect to see him regain his world crown in Saudi Arabia in December – most probably with a knock-out.
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