Tag: Ruiz vs Arreola

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.

[lawrence-related id=19880,19888,19883]

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.

[lawrence-related id=19880,19888,19883]

Andy Ruiz Jr. says he’ll be a lot fitter on May 1 than he was in his rematch with Anthony Joshua.

Ruiz, scheduled to face Chris Arreola on pay-per-view from Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., said on a Zoom call Tuesday afternoon that he expects to weigh around 250-255 pounds for the heavyweight fight.

That’s 28.5-33.5 less than the 283.5 he weighed for the second Joshua fight, which many cite as one reason for his poor performance in a one-sided setback. He weighed 268 for the first Joshua fight, which Ruiz won by knockout to win three titles.

However, Ruiz’s target weight range isn’t uncharted territory. He weighed 252.25 as recently as July 2018, when he easily outpointed Kevin Johnson. And he regularly weighed in the 250s and high 240s in the mid-2010s.

Still, Ruiz, 31, couldn’t be happier about his conditioning program under trainer Eddy Reynoso, with whom he began to work after the loss to Joshua.

“I’ve always been overweight,” he said. “Now that I’ve been dropping weight … in the right way, eating the right things, working on the right things, I feel amazing. I can do stuff I couldn’t do before because of my big gut. I had chichis (breasts), which wouldn’t let me throw the right punches.

“Now I’m more motivated, more dedicated to the sport. The sky’s the limit.”

Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) said he ballooned to more than 300 pounds after the loss to Joshua, a further testament to his bad habits.

He said the process of getting to his target weight – losing fat, building muscle — is a gradual one. In other words, fans shouldn’t expect to see a sculpted Adonis on May 1.

“After my last defeat against Anthony Joshua I gained to almost 320, 310 pounds,” he said. “I’ve been working slowly but surely to be around 255, 250. I don’t want to go too crazy losing weight.

“Now I’m trying to change fat into muscle, just working hard. The discipline is there. I’m staying focused.”

Reynoso, who also trains Canelo Alvarez, said that he agreed to work with Ruiz with the stipulation that he would stay on track in his conditioning. The 2019 Trainer of the Year said he hasn’t been disappointed.

“I talked with Andy and his entire team and they gave us the confidence that Andy would work hard,” Reynoso said through a translator. “He’s done exactly that. The focus is for him to once again become world champion.

“There are a lot of great fighters at heavyweight, but we all believe that with this hard work Andy is going to show who he really is.”

[lawrence-related id=18833,17054]