The Thrillah In Diriyah, this was not. No Jungle out here in the desert. No Rumble, either.

Not even a sandstorm in Arabia.

Simply a job meticulously planned and perfectly executed. Nothing wrong with that.

Anthony Joshua kept to a smart game plan to outbox Andy Ruiz Jr and regain his world titles

Through what was left of Saturday night and all day Sunday, Anthony Joshua was absolutely entitled to celebrate gaining entry to the esteemed ranks of two-time world heavyweight champions before, as he put it, returning quickly to the grind.

This is one of sport’s special feats and Joshua earned that distinction by virtue of his astute redemption of the nightmare infliction upon him of one of the ring’s great upsets.

As he tried to point out, recovery of all the belts he carelessly allowed the corpulent Andy Ruiz Jr to strip from him in the antithesis environment of New York was not easy. It was only made to look that way in this rematch by a long and lonely six months of soul-searching and self-sacrifice.

‘I had to learn from suffering ‘ he said, not long before the sun rose on his second coming. ‘I had to lock myself away. Remind myself of all the commitment it takes to succeed in this sport. I had to learn that I still love boxing. Hard as it is. That all I have. It’s what I am.’ Not everyone was listening. Not the more preening of his professional critics. Not the frothing mob on the internet.

Joshua showed good movement throughout the fight to evade the hooks of Ruiz Jr

By the one extreme, he is haughtily mocked for concentrating more on his brutal task at hand than on denouncing the barbarism of the regime under whose aegis he was fighting. By the other, he is vilely foul-mouthed for putting the necessity of resurrecting his career above their vicarious blood-lust.

What the hell more do they expect of a street fighter who has festooned his country with Olympic gold and world titles and been courteous while about it?

If the British government cannot unravel itself from the sophistry of selling billions of pounds worth of arms to the Saudi kingdom, how should he?

If the punters find so tedious the watchful manner in which he jabbed and dodged himself back into eminence, would they rather he had risked another defeat on the throwing of punches like dice? Maybe so, in their minds, on both counts.

Another loss might have allowed the conscientious objectors to excuse themselves for still coming here to pick up their own stipend. It might have assuaged the social media mob’s envy of his enormous purse.

The fight never caught fire, but there was nothing wrong with Joshua jabbing and ducking

Both constituencies choose to forget that the most formative of Joshua’s 30 years were spent turning around a life begun in gang-land.

The man himself remembers. Which is why he is more forgiving of Ruiz succumbing to the indulgent, fattening temptations of sudden celebrity than is Snickers man of himself.

Ruiz said to his father and his trainer: ‘I’m sorry I didn’t train properly. I’m sorry I was overweight. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. It won’t happen again.’ Joshua said to him: ‘We all have issues the first time we win a world title.’ In part that was spoken in gratitude. By springing his sensation in the first instance Ruiz unlocked this weekend the $85 million in oil money which boosted Joshua’s income from the two fights to a hundred million dollars.

That moved Joshua to talk in terms of a trilogy with the first Mexican ever to become world heavyweight champion, however briefly.

AJ was in a hyper-insensitive state before the fight but showed focus and fluency in his display

Ruiz who banked $13 million, expressed the hope that might also mean a return to Saudi Arabia. Sorry Andy, that third fight won’t be happening any time soon. If ever.

Deeply though he regrets it now, Ruiz blew it with a self-confessed three months of partying. Few would want to see the reprise of such an uncompetitive fight. Even fewer would pay to watch him in this physical condition.

Nor is it by any means certain that Saudi Arabia will welcome the return of big-time boxing for a while.

The way Joshua lost weight so as to gain quickness and mobility to offset the speed with which Ruiz had surprised him before was essential to the game plan but not exciting to witness. Given the scarcity of British fans in that hastily erected 16,000 capacity arena, the be-robed locals amused themselves by taking sides and chanting against each other.

Ruiz admitted three months of partying cost him and it’s unlikely now he’ll get another chance

Joshua said: ‘I love nothing more than a dust-up but in the position I was in the win had to come first and there are two sides to this game. I can knock people out but I also understand the sweet science of hitting without being hit back.’ So instead of trading blows it was stick and move, hit and run. It was repetitive, monotonous even. That it worked as a means to the essential end was evident on the scorecards. One of 119-109, two of 118-110 which matched my reckoning of ten rounds to two for A J. Ruiz hardly laid a glove on him.

‘Simplicity is genius,’ he said. That was intended as a loyal endorsement of his long-time trainer Rob McCracken, for whose head some miss-guided sages had been calling since the mishap in Manhattan. It also served as a rebuke to those quasi-intellectuals suddenly attaching themselves to sport and who had somehow expected him to be not so much a prize-fighter as a political philosopher.

Joshua’s priority was ensuring that lightning did not strike twice on this night when, at the end of a sun-kissed week without a hint of rain, thunderstorms swept over the dunes. Such was the pressure on his career that as he stood sweating in his dressing room he was as dripping wet as if he had gone out into the arena before the downpour ceased.

Joshua is back in the conversation for big payday fights with Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury

Never before has he appeared in such a hyper-intensive state before a fight. How he responded instantly from the first bell with such fluency and focus only he knows.

So light-footed was he, unencumbered now by over-pumped muscle, that some of the movement was reminiscent of Ali. Not the genuine article of course but an impersonation decent enough for him to howl in triumph at the half-moon which emerged on cue from behind the scudding clouds.

Light-fingered, too. By its light he spied another Aladdin’s cave. One filled with such treasures as championship fights with Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder. It’s door opened by a unanimous decision.

So who got the prediction right? ‘Most important,’ he said, ‘is to remain as humble in victory as you are in defeat.’ Tell me. With Anthony Joshua, what’s not to like?