‘MEXICAN ROCKY’ ANDY Ruiz Jr pocketed almost $7m in his seismic upset of Anthony Joshua at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, and his family didn’t do too badly either.
Ruiz appeared on Tuesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, just three days after achieving one of the greatest heavyweight boxing shocks of the modern era, and told the host that members of his family each won $10,000 after backing him as the 11/1 outsider.
“Matter of fact, my dad, my brother, my mom — all of them almost made $10,000 off of me. They made $10,000, actually,” Ruiz said.
The 29-year-old’s father, Andy Ruiz Sr, who confirmed Ruiz’s story from his seat among the audience, added:
I feel so proud, man. My ‘Rocky Mexicano’!
Ruiz is Mexico’s first-ever heavyweight world champion and will face Joshua in a rematch this winter, with an exact date and location yet to be confirmed.
Joshua was expected to make in the region of $25m until original opponent, Jarrell Miller, was pulled from the fight for failing three drug tests. The UK pay-per-view numbers are expected to suffer as a result of the unheralded Ruiz replacing Miller on six weeks’ notice, and so the Watford man’s take-home will likely be slightly lower than that mooted figure.
