Anthony Joshua handpicks neutral judging panel and referee for Andy Ruiz Jr rematch

After losing the original thriller last June, Anthony Joshua will step into the boxing ring against Andy Ruiz Jr and look to reclaim his WBA, IBF and WBO belts. It is anticipated to be one of the most defining matches of his career. In the original fight, Anthony was a heavy favourite to win the bout, but after watching a dominating performance by Ruiz Jr, it was apparent that he was ahead of Joshua when the latter was not able to continue the fight and the contest had to be waived off by the referee.

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Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr: Controversial scoring

There has been a lot of controversy around the fight with regards to the judges' scoring and the stoppage. Judges Michael Alexander (Doncaster) and Julie Lederman (New York) both had Ruiz Jr 57-56 in front. But for some reason, the Pasquale Procopio (Canada) had the Watford boxer 57-56 up. The judges had favoured Joshua through the opening two sessions and then had to hand Ruiz Jr a 10-8 round in the third. But Procopio had a conflicting decision as he awarded Joshua the fourth round. However, if the fight had to go to the scorecard for decision after that round, Ruiz Jr still would have won the fight by a majority decision.

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Andy Ruiz Jr vs Anthony Joshua 2 to get a neutral judging panel

The Fight promoter Eddie Hearn recently did an interview with SunSport and stated that the sanctioning bodies would be deciding the referee and the judges for the Saudi Arabia event. He also revealed that Team Joshua is happy with the contenders. Hearn further added that everything for the fight would be mirrored as per the earlier fight that took place in June. He also revealed that it is going to be a neutral panel which will consist of one British and one American judge. There will also be a neutral judge and a neutral referee joining the team. The bodies in charge have sent out a list of officials which his team has gone through before stating the ones they would accept. The same process was followed by Andy Ruiz and his team before acceptance. He also added that it has not been finalised yet, but it looks like the ones they have accepted are the same ones that Ruiz has as well.

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