Canelo Alvarez has backed ‘great fight’ Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr, according to Eddie Hearn

Eddie Hearn has revealed Canelo Alvarez believes Anthony Joshua is in for a ‘great fight’ against Andy Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden.

Joshua and Hearn have faced criticism for drafting in Ruiz Jr after Jarrell Miller was axed for allegedly testing positive for three different banned substances.

Matchroom boss warned Joshua the replacement fighter was more dangerous than Miller and Alvarez appears to agree with Hearn about Ruiz’s potential.

‘When you talk to, I think we had Jessie Vargas speaking about it, these people are not mugs on boxing, they’re not some bloke down the pub who has watched three fights. These are people who study and know boxing inside out. They know how good Andy Ruiz is,’ Hearn told IFL TV.

‘If Andy Ruiz was built like AJ, he’d be as big as Canelo. He’d be a Mexican heavyweight [champion]. Unfortunately the guy looks more like me in my trunks but the guy can fight.

‘I’ve had loads of messages from people in boxing saying, ‘You know this is a fing really tough fight don’t you?’

‘When you talk to Jessie and they did it with Oscar [De La Hoya] and Canelo. Canelo grew up with this guy in the amateur scene and he’s like, ‘Wow, this is a great fight’.

‘I’m like, ‘Canelo, can we do an interview with you saying that?’ Everyone in boxing is saying it’s a tougher fight as Miller, definitely as tough.

‘It doesn’t have the animosity and he doesn’t look as good as Miller but he’s a character, I like Ruiz a lot, he’s got bundles of heart. He’d become a legend overnight and he wants it bad.’