Andy Ruiz Jr. blamed himself for his poor conditioning and even poorer outing in his Dec. 7 title defense against Anthony Joshua. Turns out he reserved some blame for his trainer, too.
Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) has cut ties with trainer Manny Robles, the trainer who guided Ruiz to his historic upset over Joshua last June at Madison Square Garden in New York, according to multiple reports.
Ruiz ended up losing his belts in the rematch six months later in Saudi Arabia. Afterward, he was heavily criticized for showing up out of shape; Ruiz weighed in at 283.5 pounds, nearly 15 pounds more than his weight for the first bout. Ruiz put the blame squarely on himself, even apologizing to Robles for having not shown up to training camp on time.
Still, Robles wasn’t surprised by the news Thursday.
“I’ve seen it coming, I’ll be honest with you,” Robles told ESPN. “I’ve seen it coming during camp. I saw it coming, Andy was just doing whatever the hell he wanted to do. The dad, obviously with him being the manager, he just had no control over his son. None of us had control of him, for that matter.”
According to ESPN, Robles was informed of the news by Ruiz’s father, Andy Ruiz Sr., who said that Al Haymon, Ruiz’s influential adviser, recommended switching trainers. It’s not clear whom Ruiz will train under next.
“They apparently told them that they didn’t want the same thing to repeat itself, again,” Robles said. “It is what it is. I don’t know what to tell you. It’s not the first time it’s happened to me. I’m sure it’s not the first time it’s happened to other coaches. It happens time and time again. We always end up getting the short end of the stick. But it is what it is, you keep moving forward.
“I really believed coming into the second fight that we were going to be able to do it again. But obviously you can’t do that if the fighter isn’t there, if the fighter doesn’t want it. I did everything I could as a coach, as a teacher, as a friend, but again, as I said, if the fighter’s not there, what can I do?”
Robles maintains there are no hard feelings.
“I’ve got to tell you I’m absolutely grateful and blessed to have been able to experience everything that I was able to experience in 2019,” he said. “I mean, we made history, and I have to be thankful for that. I have to be thankful to Andy and his dad for giving me the opportunity to be part of something special, to have made history, for him to become the first Mexican heavyweight champion of the world.”
Ruiz reportedly has been offered a fight by promoter Eddie Hearn to face Dillian Whyte but it appears that Whyte is now expected to face Alexander Povetkin instead.