Should referee Mike Griffin have stopped the Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz Jr. fight on Saturday night? That’s a question many are debating.
Ruiz Jr. was declared a 7th-round TKO winner over Joshua, handing the former heavyweight champion his first career defeat. The action really got started during a thrilling third round.
Joshua dropped Ruiz with a knockdown, and the Mexican-American responded by flooring Joshua twice later in the round. Then in the seventh, Ruiz scored two more knockdowns. Joshua beat the count on the first knockdown. He beat the count after the next knockdown as well, but that’s where things got tricky.
Joshua looked towards his corner after the second knockdown, indicating he may have been looking at them for advice about whether he should have continued. Griffin then asked Joshua if he wanted to continue. Joshua said yes. Despite Joshua saying he wanted to continue, Griffin stopped the fight, making Ruiz a TKO winner.
That explains Joshua’s confused reaction to the fight being called off by Griffin:
So why did Griffin stop the fight even after Joshua said he wanted to continue? Probably because his body language told a different story. Joshua had looked to his corner. He did not step forward towards Griffin, which is something fighters usually do to indicate they want to continue.
Joshua had been knocked down four times by Ruiz and was thoroughly beaten in the fight. Nobody can argue with the result, even if Joshua was hoping for it to continue.
Joshua is now 22-1 following the defeat, while Ruiz improves to 33-1.
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