Big fight betting preview: Anthony Joshua v Andy Ruiz Jr tips and TV details

Sky Box Office, 4am Sunday

Anthony Joshua defends his IBF, WBA (Super), WBO and IBO world heavyweight titles on his US debut against Andy Ruiz Jr and it's unlikely that the Watford puncher will be returning to Britain without his belts.

Ruiz was ushered in as a replacement for Jarrell Miller, who failed a drugs test, and although Joshua and his promotional team have been talking up the Madison Square Garden showdown, it is unlikely to be the best contest the famous venue has seen.

Ruiz has lost just once in 33 fights, but that defeat came against the only decent pugilist on his record, Joseph Parker. Ruiz went 12 rounds with Parker before losing a majority decision, which he disputes, and while Parker is tough and game he has since been exposed by Joshua and Dillian Whyte.

The Destroyer has managed wins over Devin Vargas, Kevin Johnson and Alexander Dimitrenko in his last three fights. But Vargas is an inactive journeyman, Johnson is 39 and has recently been beaten by Nathan Gorman and Daniel Dubois, while Dimitrenko's ship has sailed.

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Much has been made of Ruiz's dubious fitness but the Destroyer's fight against Dimitrenko came on April 20 so he should have some level of conditioning and the bigger concern for the Mexican is Joshua's huge height and reach advantage.

Joshua has four inches in height over Ruiz and eight inches in reach and although the Destroyer has been talking up his fast hands, he is likely to find it difficult to get in a position to let them go given AJ's physical advantages.

Joshua is likely to want to entertain on his US debut and the inexperience, step up in class and come-forward style of Ruiz could lead to a fairly early win for the Watford man. It's 10-11 that AJ manages a win in rounds one to six and that looks a solid wager.

Callum Smith makes the first defence of his WBA super-middleweight title against Hassan N'Dam and the Liverpool fighter should make short work of his opponent.

The unbeaten Smith knocked out George Groves to claim the WBA crown in September and establish himself as an elite level fighter. It's difficult to see the 35-year-old N'Dam, who was short of top class at middleweight, putting up much resistance on his first fight at super-middle this late in his career.

N'Dam performed well to beat Martin Murray via a majority decision, but Mundo represents a massive step up in class, power and size for the French-Cameroonian.

Smith can be backed at 11-8 to get the job done in rounds one to six and he has the punching power to stop his outclassed opponent.

Tommy Coyle is a likeable fighter but the barrow boy may have pushed his stall out too far in taking on WBO international super-lightweight champion Chris Algieri.

Algieri is a classy operator, who has lost just three times in his career. Those defeats came against top-level fighters Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan and Errol Spence and all of those losses came when stepping up to welterweight.

Coyle is moving up from lightweight for this fight, and while he has been in some fantastic domestic dust-ups, he is taking on a better class of opponent and it's hard to see the 3-1 shot causing an upset.

Algieri has a modest knockout record - just eight of his 23 wins have come via stoppage - and the American doesn't carry stunning one-punch knockout power. However, Algieri is going to be big at this weight and he could overwhelm Coyle in the ten-round contest.

Quotes of 11-5 about the native New Yorker not needing to know the scores look generous.

Katie Taylor, Joshua Buatsi and Josh Kelly all feature on the Madison Square Garden undercard.

Recommendations
A Joshua to win in rounds one to six
2pts 10-11 Betfair, Paddy Power
C Smith to win in rounds one to six
3pts 11-8 Sky Bet
C Algieri to win by stoppage
1pt 11-5 bet365

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