Andy Ruiz Jr.’s comeback performance wasn’t perfect but it was thorough.
Ruiz, coming off his one-sided loss to Anthony Joshua in their December 2019 rematch, survived a second-round knockdown to defeat Chris Arreola by a one-sided decision Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif.
The former world champion won all but one round on two cards and all but two on the third, which reflected his dominance in the fight.
Ruiz has made headlines because of his weight loss following his second fight with Joshua, which cost him the titles he had won by knockout in their first meeting. He weighed 283.5 pounds in the fight, 27.5 more than he weighed in this past Friday.
And the hard work with new trainer Eddy Reynoso paid off Saturday, although he couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start.
Ruiz (34-2, 22 KOs) seemed to be winning the second round when Arreola (38-7-1, 33 KOs) landed a light jab and followed with a right that landed on the side of Ruiz’s head, which stunned him and forced him to touch the canvas with one knee and one glove.
Ruiz recovered quickly but he was stunned again late in the round and early in Round 3, which featured some wild exchanges. It seemed Ruiz might be in trouble.
“He got me with that good, clean right hand,” Ruiz said. “I dropped my hand a little bit. I was too overconfident. Hats off to Chris; he got me with a good one. But I kept going, I kept going.”
Indeed, by Round 4, Ruiz began to settle into a groove. He boxed more carefully, jabbed to the head and body, landed quick two- and three-punch combinations before the 40-year-old Arreola could react and avoiding most of Arreola’s big shots.
That was the pattern the second half of the fight, with Ruiz, his hands too fast for Arreola, in full control and his opponent groping to land another big shot that might turn the fight in his favor. He never landed it.
Thus, the official scoring was not shocking: 118-109, 118-109 and 117-110. Boxing Junkie also had it 117-110 – 10 rounds to 2 – in Ruiz’s favor.
Ruiz said more than once after the fight that he felt rusty after his 17-month layoff but he was content with the outcome.
“Chris is a veteran,” Ruiz said. “He’s a hard puncher. We did what we had to do, we got the victory. Remember, I was at the lowest of the lows [after the loss to Joshua]. I have to climb back up the ladder. … Like I said, we did what we had to do.
“Thanks to God we got this victory. Now it’s on to the next.”
Arreola wasn’t pleased with the scoring. And he was shy about expressing it when he was interviewed for the entire outdoor arena to hear.
“Honestly man, did he win? Fine. But don’t tell me you give me two, three rounds. F— that,” said Arreola, who then expressed his frustration in an even more profane manner.
Ruiz magnanimously suggested that he and Arreola could fight a second time, saying, “If he wants to run it back, we can run it back.” And, of course, the frustrated Arreola was receptive to that idea.
However, a rematch seems unlikely. Ruiz and his handlers want to get another title shot as soon as possible. It’s on to bigger and better things.
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