Andy Ruiz Jr. put fellow heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz down three times en route to winning a unanimous decision in a 12-round bout.
The scores were 114-111, 114-111 and 113-112, meaning the busier Ortiz won six rounds on two cards and seven on the third but lost because of the knockdowns.
Boxing Junkie also scored it 114-111 for Ruiz.
Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) put Ortiz down twice in Round 2 and once more in Round 7 to clinch the victory. He could now be in line to face former champion Deontay Wilder if Wilder defeats Robert Helenius on Oct. 15.
Ortiz (33-3, 28 KOs), who had never lost to anyone except Wilder, gave a solid performance. However, at 43, he certainly is near the end of his career.
You can read the full fight report here.
***
Isaac Cruz stopped countryman Eduardo Ramirez at 2:27 of the second round of a scheduled 10-round lightweight bout.
Cruz (24-2-1, 17 KOs) put Ramirez (27-3-3, 12 KOs) down and hurt him with a perfect left hook midway through Round 2, which was the beginning of the end.
A wobbly Ramirez was able to continue but Cruz put him on his pants with a vicious three-punch combination, prompting referee Jack Reiss to stop the fight.
Cruz, a top contender, has now won two consecutive fights since losing a close decision to Gervonta Davis last year.
***
Abner Mares, fighting for the first time in four years. and Miguel Flores fought to a draw in a 10-round lightweight bout.
Mares (31-3-2, 15 KOs) got off to a quick start, particularly in a dominating Round 3. In that frame he landed one overhand right after another and seemed to hurt Flores (25-4-1, 13 KOs).
However, the former three-division titleholder shifted into a stick-and-move-and-hold mode beginning in Round 4, which gave the more aggressive Flores a chance to climb back into the fight.
Flores seemed to outwork Mares in the second half of the fight to pull even with him.
One judge had Mares winning 96-94 but the other two scored it 95-95. Boxing Junkie scored it 96-94 for Mares, six rounds to four.
***
Edwin De Los Santos made the most of his opportunity against Jose Valenzuela.
The Dominican lightweight prospect, who took the fight on short notice, his more heralded opponent down twice and stopped him at 1:08 of the third round of a scheduled 10-rounder.
Both fighters went down in a wild second round, when De Los Santos also lost a point for hitting Valenzuela when he was down. In the third, De Los Santos put Valenzuela down again. He then hurt Valenzuela (12-1, 8 KOs) again, prompting the referee to stop the fight.
De Los Santos (15-1, 14 KOs) replaced Jezreel Corrales, who couldn’t get a visa to enter the U.S.
***
Andy Ruiz Jr. will face fellow heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz on pay-per-view Sunday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Ruiz (34-2, 22 KOs), a former beltholder, and Ortiz (33-2, 28 KOs) are both trying to stay in the championship hunt in what is being billed as a title eliminator.
Also on the card, Isaac Cruz Taking vs. Eduardo Ramírez, lightweights; Abner Mares vs. Miguel Flores, lightweights; Jose Valenzuela vs. Jezreel Corrales, lightweights; Joey Spencer vs. Kevin Salgado, junior middleweights; Ra’eese Aleem vs. Mike Plania, junior featherweights.
The card begins at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. The main event will take place later in the show.
Boxing Junkie will post results of all the featured bouts on the card immediately after they end. Simply return to this post when the time comes.
Full coverage – a fight story, photo gallery and analysis – will follow on separate posts the night of the fight and the following day.
Enjoy the fights!
[lawrence-related id=32382,32378,32373]
