IPSWICH - It remains the most stunning night of Eddie Hearn’s 15 years as a boxing promoter.

June 1, 2019 was the day that Anthony Joshua was supposed to officially crack the US but his American Dream turned swiftly into a nightmare at Madison Square Garden.

Things had been going well until the third with late replacement and huge underdog Andy Ruiz Jr on the canvas from an uppercut-hook combination 45 seconds into the round. That was when it all went wrong.

Up Ruiz climbed, responding by dropping Joshua within 45 seconds and then again before the end of the round. Joshua went down twice more before the famous end halfway through the seventh, crowning a new world champion and securing arguably the biggest heavyweight shock since Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson in Tokyo.

Hearn has been Joshua's promoter for every punch of his career, including victory in the immediate rematch with Ruiz in Saudi Arabia six months later, but now he feels like he is on the other side of the coin with a different heavyweight contender.

The Matchroom boss was in Ipswich on Wednesday for the launch press conference for Fabio Wardley's June 7 clash with Justis Huni at Portman Road. Hearn used to promote Wardley but is now in Huni's corner.

And he pointed out the bizarre similarities between this fight and the one where Ruiz ripped up the script almost six years earlier to the day.

"June 7 will be just over six years since Anthony Joshua lost to Andy Ruiz at Madison Square Garden and there are so many similarities," Hearn said.

"We were supposed to be fighting Jarrell Miller and about four weeks before he pulled out of the fight. We were just so confident of winning but like Frank [Warren] now, we wanted to put on a great fight for the fans and the broadcaster."

Miller had been scheduled to face Joshua and had illuminated the build-up with promises to knock the then IBF, WBA and WBO world heavyweight champion out. He then tested positive for a series of performance enhancing drugs and blew the chance of facing Joshua, which opened the door for Ruiz, who secured the fight via an Instagram direct message to Hearn.

Six years on, Miller was supposed to be the opponent for Wardley, too, but a shoulder injury meant he had to withdraw, with Matchroom's undefeated Australian Huni brought in to save the show only a few weeks out from fight night.

"We probably chose the wrong style and the wrong fight by going for Andy Ruiz," Hearn added. "And in opting to fight Justis Huni this is a carbon copy of that decision. I really believe that.

"I'm happy and sad with it. I'm happy that Justis is going to get his chance to announce himself on the world stage but just a little bit sad for Fabio because I thought he'd beat Jarrell Miller and I was quite looking forward to seeing it.

"Now we've got to go and ruin everything; the dream, the fairytale and it's a tough one because Fabio is a lovely fella. The pressure is massive on Fabio Wardley but one thing I will say, these are two world class fighters and it’s the first time they've both fought at world level.

"No.1 with the WBO and No.1 with the WBA. Two undefeated heavyweights. Justis Huni is a serious fighter and I think he has been underestimated in this fight. We could not believe it when we got the call.

"Frank knows boxing inside out. He has forgotten more about boxing than I know. It’s very, very unusual for Frank to make a mistake like this."

It was August last year when Wardley signed promotional terms with Warren and, after knocking out Frazer Clarke within a round in October, this outdoors show at the home of Ipswich Town will be the second fight of the deal.

"I genuinely believe in Fabio and that’s why we’re here," said Warren in response to Hearn's suggestion that he's made a mistake by selecting Huni.

"That's the investment we've made in Fabio. For me he's in with another great fighter. But Fabio is a beast in the ring, when he gets in there he does the business. That last knockout against Frazer Clarke was maybe the knockout of the year.

"This is something a little bit special. Every fight he has had they've all been on the floor, they've all tasted the floor and he doesn't want to lose that run he's on this time around."