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"He doesn't remember anything, really, from the third round," Hearn told DAZN. "In fact, he's taken a little bit of positivity that he managed to go four rounds after that because he says, you know, my senses weren't there." Hearn went on to say that the stoppage at the end of the fight was "100% right", adding: "If you actually watch it back, we were watching it last night, and Anthony says 'yes,' and goes to walk forward, and the ref just nudges him and he goes back on the ropes, and then the ref stops it, and I'm actually glad he did, because Anthony would have kept going all night."
The fight with Ruiz, which stripped him of three hard-earned title belts, marked Joshua's first loss in his professional boxing career, and only the second time he has ever been knocked out. This sudden end to his winning streak has got some superstitious fans speculating that the "Drake curse" has struck yet another athlete.
Joshua's defeat has also scuppered plans for the British boxer to fight Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, at least according to Wilder's promoter Bob Arum, who said that American audiences wouldn't pay to see that right now. "The trouble is, Anthony Joshua had no reputation in America before," he told World Boxing News . "He has no reputation now. He got knocked out by Andy Ruiz, that says it all. If you put Joshua in with Wilder or Fury in the United States, it wouldnt sell at all... who the f*** is going to pay to see that fight?"