Emma Njoku

“No fear in my heart. No fear in my eyes. No fear in my mind.”

The above remarks were Anthony Joshua’s battle cry barely 24 hours to tonight’s epic re-match with Andy Ruiz Jr in Saudi Arabia.

Joshua was dethroned as World Heavyweight boxing champion by Ruiz Jr in June, but the Nigerian-British born pugilist said he is battle ready to reclaim his belts – International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Organisation (WBO)- from the Mexican tonight.

“Last time when I lost, I understood why,” Joshua told the AP in a phone interview after arriving in Riyadh.

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“I took it like a man, I’d say. I took it like a champion should. Because, I understood my mistakes. And I’ve changed them, I’ve rectified them. If anything wasn’t to go my way this time, I just have to say the man is better than me.

He is a tricky customer, but I think I’m a better fighter than him, even though I didn’t get the decision last time. I went straight back in. I didn’t say, ‘Ah, I need a warm-up fight.’ I knew where I went wrong. I know how to improve it, and I’ve done that.”

Joshua shared a picture of himself and his opponent in tonight’s fight looking straight into their respective eyes. He accompanied the post with a caption that says: “No fear in my heart. No fear in my eyes. No fear in my mind.”

The Nigerian-British boxer will draw inspiration from his mother who is expected to be by the ringside tonight. Before his defeat in the middle of the year, Joshua had gone unbeaten in all previous matches – winning 21 of his 22 bouts on knockouts.