Former undefeated and unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua took to his YouTube channel Wednesday to reflect on his shocking loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. The heavyweight division was blown wide open when the massive underdog Mexican shocked the world to take the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles.
"I have to take my loss like a man, no blaming anyone, no blaming anything.” Joshua said. “I’m the one who went in there to perform, and my performance didn’t go to plan. My game plan didn’t go to plan, so I have to readjust, analyze, do my best to correct it and get the job done in the rematch.
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"Congratulations to Andy Ruiz, he has six months or so to be champion, because the belts go into the air and he has to defend the title against myself. Within our contract we were negotiating we added some clauses, as you do. So naturally we added a rematch clause, date, location and so on.
"I would not mind if it was in New York again, I wouldn’t mind if it was in England."
The rematch was announced Tuesday by Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn. But the date and location are yet to be confirmed.
More: Joshua will get rematch, but the timing is alarming
Joshua also dismissed a couple of the rumors that have been making the rounds since his defeat.
"About the fight, look, the whole training camp team pulled together and done a great job," he said. "I started my camp off in Sheffield (England), which I normally do, anyway. Was working there for about six weeks, seven weeks cracking on, came to New York, continue my press tour. There was a lot of issues going on with this fight with Jarrell Miller, (Luiz) Ortiz pulling out, (Andy) Ruiz stepping in, but it all makes for the drama show, the entertainment of heavyweight boxing.
"So, I traveled here, done my press conference, and then I’ve gone to Miami. The set up was spot-on. I didn’t go out expect for lunch one day, out in the open. Other days the chef in-house was cooking, eating in-house and so on. No contaminated food. I know there’s a lot of accusations and worries about what was wrong with me, but I want to tell you this: I’m a soldier, and I have to take my ups and my downs, and on Saturday I took a loss, and I have to take it like a man and that’s why one of my sayings is, 'never let success get to your head and never let your failures get to your heart.'"
Added Joshua: "I had no panic attack. I'm not that type of person. You know me."