Unified world heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr says he will not rematch Anthony Joshua in the UK.
Ruiz Jr scored a shock win over Joshua in New York on June 1, dropping him four times en route to a seventh-round knockout victory.
The IBF, WBA and WBO champion is contractually obligated to face Joshua in a rematch.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn had previously tabbed Cardiff’s Principality Stadium as the frontrunner to host the fight on 14 December, but Ruiz Jr insists he won’t be travelling to the UK for the fight.
“That’s not going to happen,” Ruiz told the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
“We have been going back and forth, my team and their team. I’d love to have it back at Madison Square Garden to run it back.
“The Staples Center [in Los Angeles], Las Vegas would have been great too.”
Mexican-American Ruiz, 29, said the fight will definitely be happening and that news regarding the venue would circulate “pretty soon”.
“I don’t think we will be changing too much,” he added. “Just exactly what we did for the last one is what we will be doing, just more intense.
“I’m willing to fight anybody, as soon as I win the rematch. Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder – anybody.”
Ruiz Jr said there were issues behind the scenes in the lead-up to the Joshua bout.
“A lot of people didn’t know we were struggling a lot even before this fight,” he said.
“I was with Top Rank and not getting a lot of fights. I had one more fight left with them and they didn’t want to let me go so I had to pay the contract off. Everything turned around so quick.
“From having nothing to wanting something in life is big motivation, especially me – I have five kids. It feels nice getting the stuff I always wanted, seeing famous people having nice stuff, now I can get it for myself, my family, kids and mother.”
