Nobody thought to give Andy Ruiz Jr. a shot when he stepped up to face Anthony Joshua in a heavyweight title boxing match on five weeks’ notice. Standing at 6’2″ and a rotund 262 pounds, Ruiz hardly looked like a threat to the 6’6″, perpetually chiseled and dangerous Joshua. Before his seventh-round knockout loss to Ruiz on Saturday, June 1 at Madison Square Garden, the British boxing powerhouse boasted 22 wins, zero losses, and 21 knockouts.
Joshua was originally set to face Jarrell Miller, but “Big Baby” failed a drug test, which was reported in late April. It seemed as though nobody wanted to step up to challenge the 248-pound Joshua on such short notice—except Ruiz. With a 31-1-0 record prior to Saturday’s bout, Ruiz could hardly be considered a sleeper, but OddsShark still had him as a +1100 underdog (bet $100, win $1,100).
It was in the seventh round that Ruiz proved that he’s every inch the champion, stopping Joshua and winning the WBA, WBO, and IBF world titles. With this win comes two things: 1) Drizzy will probably never score a photo op with an athlete again, and 2) Ruiz is the first heavyweight world champion to come from Mexican descent.
And with this shocking upset also comes a barrage of hilarious Internet memes. Check out the list we’ve curated below.
