Unified heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. will put his three champion belts on the line against Anthony Joshua the man he won the belts off of in a rematch on Dec. 7, in Saudi Arabia.
Ruiz shocked the world by stopping the previously unbeaten Joshua in June with a seventh-round knockout after dropping the former champion four separate times in the fight.
Both parties made pushes to get this fight on their home turf, with Joshua and promoter Eddie Hearn both saying immediately after the first fight that the rematch would likely land in England. But Ruiz held firm on not going across the pond, which, according to Coppinger, was an important piece of the negotiations as the first Mexican-American heavyweight champion wanted a neutral site for this bout.
Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) will look to regain the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles lost in his U.S. debut while fighting at Madison Square Garden against Ruiz, who he took on short notice after Jarrell Miller was forced to withdraw because of a pair of positive VADA tests.
According to Mike Coppinger of The Athletic, the fight will take place in an open-air stadium being constructed for the fight. The rematch is being billed as "The Clash on the Dunes." The fight will take place in the city of Diriyah, a town on the outskirts of Riyadh.
The stadium to be built is only expected to hold 6,000 to 7,000 seats, according to Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix.