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30 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 DECEMBER 2019 SPORTS BOXING ANDY Ruiz Jr's mum blows a kiss to her son. He has just become a world cham- pion and declared their struggles over. Ruiz's trainer Manny Robles is sobbing, pointing to the heavens and praising the guidance of a dad he lost 12 years ago. This is the dream. A short walk away, in his Madison Square Garden dressing room, Anthony Joshua is told by his father that he must "go back to the drawing board". Joshua's best friend, David Ghansa, wipes away tears. This is the nightmare. The week of the first Joshua v Ruiz fight had started with the laid-back Mexican outsider spitting off the rooftop terrace of a Manhattan building while waiting for an interview to begin. That carefree attitude would prove his greatest asset in the days that followed, as the masses wrote him off. Two weeks later, he was on his best be- haviour, sitting alongside the President of Mexico, lauded as a national hero. The night that gave him such status - as he humbled the undefeated Joshua - was one of shock and panic. Here, mere hours after Ruiz and Joshua met for a rematch in Saudi Arabia, is a look behind the scenes of 1 June, when Ruiz first rocked the boxing world. It was about 6.30pm in New York. Liv- erpool had just won football's Champi- ons League in an all-English final. But their triumph would be knocked off top spot on the biggest sports websites with- in hours because of drama few could yet see coming. Ruiz's name isn't even on some of the tickets held by fans queuing outside Madison Square Garden because he is a late stand-in to replace Joshua's original opponent, Jarrell Miller. Joshua's statuesque frame is splashed across the billboards dominating the side of the arena. The Briton models a design- er T-shirt. 24 hours earlier, by way of contrast, some people with money to make from the fight hoped the rotund Ruiz would keep his shirt on for the weigh-in. This is, after all, pay-per-view and some extra fat does little to convince punters of a competitive bout. As the fight nears, the underdog prays in his dressing room. After entering the ring, he waits. Then Joshua makes his ring-walk. Before the fans in the arena can see him, he reminds himself of key instructions, saying: "Base, head move- ment and throwing calmly." Backstage, Callum Smith is being drug-tested after retaining his world ti- tle in three rounds. "All the testers were watching the Joshua fight on the TV and joking, saying: 'I think this one will be over quicker than your fight,'" he said. The testers may be on to something because Ruiz is swiftly floored, only to rise and drop Joshua twice by the end of round three. "If you hit him you will slow him right down," Joshua is told by his trainer Rob McCracken. In the opposite corner, seconds before round seven, Robles tells Ruiz: "You know you got him hurt now, so start go- ing for the head." British entertainer James Corden is open-mouthed at ringside. He intermit- tently shouts "come on AJ" in spurts, but for the most part, he is frozen, like most around him. David Haye cannot sit down, much to the frustration of the reporter sitting behind him. As the drama unfolds, the former world heavyweight champion is the only man rising and falling more fre- quently than his humbled compatriot in the ring. A third and fourth knockdown come in the seventh. Every time Joshua hits the canvas pho- tographers lift cameras next to the ring, some within jabbing distance of his head. He is exposed and isolated as millions watch an iconic shock play out. "I felt numb really," promoter Ed- die Hearn tells BBC Sport. "I've seen so much in boxing - injuries, tragedy, ups and downs. You can become numb to the drama, but there was a little bit of disbelief." Joshua, beaten, is on one knee in the corner of the ring. He has a towel draped over his head. His long-term manager Freddie Cunningham is standing over him with concern etched on his face. Rumours hit ringside, ranging from Joshua being unwell to him collapsing backstage earlier in the night. His team will later deny them. His dad is in the ring berating Hearn. Joshua exits. His acceptance of defeat will be criticised. He can do nothing right on this night. Ruiz leaves the ring. Draped in belts, he walks out of the arena and through corri- dors where he is yelled at: "You shocked the world champ. The whole world loves you baby." He can do nothing wrong on this night. The hopeless, overweight, smiling un- derdog - nicknamed "destroyer" because he broke things as a child - was a wreck- ing ball. Britain's Smith is holding his news con- ference as the world's media flood into the room, fresh from the Joshua drama a few metres away. Cameras are being erected at speed, people are on phones, others are asking where Joshua is and word breaks he is having a concussion test. "I felt awkward. I remember thinking that there is no-one in here who cares about what I am about to say," recalls Smith. "It felt like someone had died in there at times." Ruiz enters to applause and cheering from some. One man is shouting: "The champ is here." Hearn, one of the sport's smoothest talkers, speaks on stage but still looks a touch dazed. His friends back in the UK are texting him asking if he is OK. "You have to stay focused. I had a job to do," he remembers. Ruiz tells his mother he loves her, prompting her blown kiss. His trainer, a man who says he arrived in the US as an illegal immigrant as a child, is breaking down. He lost his fa- ther, job and home in 2007. Questions about his boxing-enthusiast dad reduce him to tears. Triumph reminds him of the wife that stuck with him through it all. Highlights play out on US breakfast shows. The chubby man beat the Adon- is. This was a tale to inspire those who have never even watched boxing. Josh- ua, on his US debut, had been laid bare - and it was brutal. "I remember seeing him maybe two weeks after and you could tell he wasn't in a good place," adds Hearn. "It took him a long while to get in a good frame of mind but we made our decision on a rematch quickly." As Ruiz, Mexico's first heavyweight world champion, met the country's President and appeared on late-night US talk shows, those on the opposite side were beginning to feel the pain. Ruiz, as he did throughout the biggest fight week of his life, was still smiling as he paraded on the back of a convert- ible Rolls Royce through his city of resi- dence in California. Weeks earlier he had stood on that New York roof-top in baggy jeans, trainers and an ill-fitting blazer, with his hands in his pockets and the air of a man who was simply grateful to be asked questions. He was not treated like a champion. He did not look like a champion. And yet, six days on - despite a widespread lack of belief - he was one. He had the night of his life. The night Andy Ruiz shook boxing Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua faced off hours ago for a rematch following Ruiz's surprise win in June, when he became boxing heavyweight champion. This is a behind-the- scenes look at how that night six months ago unfolded The chubby man beat the Adonis - Andy Ruiz became world champion on 1 June