Sylvester Stallone Hypes up Andy Ruiz Jr. Ahead of Anthony Joshua Rematch

Saturday’s rematch between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua has been one of the most-anticipated matchups in boxing due to fans wanting to find out if the “portly” heavyweight in Ruiz can back up his upset victory on June 1. As it turns out, actor Sylvester Stallone has no doubts. He is hyping up Ruiz for this battle and even sent over a t-shirt.

As a video showed, Stallone gifted the heavyweight a shirt that said, “Win ‘Rocky’ Win.” The actor behind Rocky and Rambo also asked, “how can you not love this guy?” in reference to the boxer. Although Stallone also said that Joshua is a class act and wished both men luck during their battle in the Middle East.

Heading into the battle, Ruiz is viewed as the underdog despite winning the first battle in June. One reason is that his critics have referred to him as “fat” while Joshua has been compared to Adonis.

Early on in Saturday’s battle, Ruiz set out to back up his previous win, but he gave up the advantage to his opponent. Joshua had a 19-8 striking advantage through two rounds and was viewed as the leader in the scorecards. Ruiz also suffered a cut above his left eye that caused blood to run down the side of his face.

However, Stallone’s favorite to win the battle began forging a comeback at that point with some tough shots to Joshua. He hit his opponent on the side of the head to start the third round and even wobbled the favorite with a two-punch combo to finish the fourth round of the bout.

This performance follows comments made by Ruiz leading up to the battle in which he explained how he is the better boxer. He said that Joshua isn’t good at boxing during a media event in June.

“He is going to try to make adjustments,” Ruiz said according to CBS Sports. “I don’t know if he wants to exchange punches, but I’d love for him to do that because I’m the more skilled boxer. He’ll try to box me round and use his jab. But for how long? How long can he keep me away from hunting him down?”

Ultimately, Ruiz has some work to do to back up his talk leading into the fight, but Stallone has faith that he will be successful. The shirt gift is evidence of that fact.

Photo Credit: Richard Heathcote/Getty)