Andy Ruiz felt vindicated for carrying as much weight as he did in the ring for his last win. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
The former unified heavyweight champion officially weighed in at 268 ¾ pounds prior to his twelve-round unanimous decision victory over Miami’s Luis Ortiz. Ruiz scored three takedowns on the night but had to absorb several flush left hands from the Cuban southpaw, taking shots well and managing to stay upright long enough to preserve the win at the top of his Fox Sports Pay-per-view headliner. Per-View from September 4 on Crypto. com Arena in Los Angeles.
“The main advantage was the weight I put up, he couldn’t drop me,” Ruiz told BoxingScene.com and other reporters after the win. “I felt like if he was 250-something, it would have been a fight between him dropping me and me dropping him.
“I felt strong, I felt explosive. I was a bit too cautious. He hits hard, so I had to be smart.
The weight was similar to Ruiz’s crowning career achievement, a June 2019 seventh-round knockout of Anthony Joshua to win the WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO titles in their first meeting. Ruiz weighed in at 268 pounds for a fight he accepted on five weeks notice, recovering from a third-round knockdown to score on his own in stopping Joshua to become the first fighter of Mexican descent to capture a share of the heavyweight crown. heavy.
Ruiz (35-2, 22KOs) showed up at a catchweight of 283 ¼ pounds for his December 2019 rematch with Joshua, clearly affected by the extra weight and unpreparedness to lose a landslide decision that ended his title reign. .
A lengthy absence from the ring followed before Ruiz resurfaced last May, hitting 256 pounds in a points win over Chris Arreola at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. The general response was that Ruiz looked good in his first and, for the time being, only fight under Eddy Reynoso, though the Imperial, California native was equally pleased with the work put in for his win over Ortiz, which followed another extended stint. inactive. .
The fact that Ortiz was unable to take Ruiz down shouldn’t discount the power the 43-year-old heavyweight still wields. “They both hit hard,” Ruiz noted of Joshua and Ortiz when asked to compare their hitting power. “Anthtony Joshua hit me with a shot I didn’t see coming and it knocked me down. With Luis Ortiz I was more cautious. He threw a left hand that I saw coming, hit me and I was like, ‘Damn.’
“They both hit hard. They all fucking hit hard.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
