Former unified heavyweight boxing champion Andy Ruiz Jr appears to be in the best shape he’s ever been ahead of his next fight.
On Sunday in Los Angeles, Ruiz will take to the ring in his toughest test since fighting Anthony Joshua, when he clashes with former Deontay Wilder opponent, Luis Ortiz.
Back in 2019, Ruiz pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport when he knocked down Joshua four times on his way to a seventh-round stoppage victory to claim the WBO, WBA, and IBF heavyweight belts in New York.
The 6ft 2in Ruiz weighed in at 19st 2lbs for the first fight at Madison Square Garden. That was considerably more than 6ft 6in Joshua who was a stone-and-a-half lighter at 17st 9lbs before his shock loss.
In the rematch, however, Ruiz's commitment was questioned, as he came into the fight 15lbs heavier than the first bout and Joshua comfortably boxed his way to a unanimous decision victory.
Following his second career loss, the 32-year-old spent 18 months out of the ring, linked up with Canelo Alvarez’s trainer Eddie Reynoso and began working on his game and improving his physique before being booked to face Chris Arreola last year.
Ruiz had clearly been working hard in the gym, that much was clear when he weighed in two stone lighter at 18.2 stone than he did for his second fight with Joshua.
The Mexican heavyweight was a little rusty early on and had to recover from a second-round knockdown to secure a unanimous decision win from the ringside judges who scored the fight 118–109, 118–109, 117–110 in his favour.
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For his upcoming fight with Ortiz, Ruiz looks like he has been training hard, but he has claimed that he has actually put on weight during camp.
The Mexican claims he will be weighing in the same weight he did for his first fight with Joshua, which was 19.1 stone, 13lbs heavier than his comeback fight against Arreola.
"I’m not in a big diet, you know? I’ve been eating good,” Ruiz told Fight Hype.
“The main thing and the most important thing is just putting the hard work inside of the gym. So weight, it goes off and it comes back on whenever it does. We’re just focused on boxing.
“260[lbs]. I’m in the 60s. So, I weigh exactly what [I did] when I fought Anthony Joshua [in the first fight]. But having more ability, you know, moving around. I feel good, man.
However, based on the recent images from a photoshoot with Fox Sports to promote his fight with Ortiz, Ruiz is in incredible shape and a far cry from the man who so easily surrendered his belts in 2019.
It’ll be interesting to see what weight he comes in at to face Ortiz, especially as he recently hinted that a move down to the cruiserweight may be on the cards at some point in his career.
“As soon as I’m done with the heavyweight division I would wanna make history and become the first Mexican cruiserweight Champion of the World,” he added.
“You know, I’m pretty close… I just gotta lose 50 pounds!”
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