By Dan Ambrose: Andy Ruiz Jr. is sounding like he’s now got a major chip on his shoulders in talking on social media about wanting to come back and “prove the haters wrong” after his loss to Anthony Joshua.
Unfortunately for Ruiz, he may not ever win another world title. It was a perfect storm that led to him upsetting the over-muscled, fragile-chinned, poorly conditioned Joshua last June. All the mistakes that Joshua made going into and during the fight led Ruiz stopping him in the 7th round.
Ruiz picked the worst possible time to slack off
Andy lost his IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles last Saturday night in a 12 round unanimous decision defeat to Joshua in Saudi Arabia. Whatever chance Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) had in winning the fight, he blew it by coming into the rematch badly out of shape.
By his own admission, Ruiz partied too much, and failed to train hard enough to prepare for his second fight with AJ. The results were embarrassing to watch. The fat 283 lb Ruiz plodded around the ring, was no match for Joshua.
I’ll be back stronger. I WILL be a champion once again. I appreciate all the love and support from my true fans. I appreciate the haters as well and can’t wait to prove the haters wrong once again. Back to the gym. Let’s start this journey to the belts 🏆🇲🇽 🙏 pic.twitter.com/ugioHWKoQ0
— AndyRuizjr (@Andy_destroyer1) December 12, 2019
Can Ruiz dedicate himself to become a world champion again?
Before his rematch with Joshua, Ruiz made a lot of bold statements about how he was going to give it his all during the fight. We didn’t see that though. Ruiz fought like a guy that wasn’t willing to go all out, and risk being knocked out in order to get the ‘W’. In other words, Ruiz fought like someone whose main concern was to get out of the fight in one piece without being knocked out. Ruiz accomplished that goal, but he lost his 3 titles.
Ruiz needs to lose approximatedly 40 lbs to get back down to the 240s, and then he needs to get a few wins under his belt. As far as winning another world title goes, Ruiz won’t be getting a trilogy fight with Joshua in 2020. The British heavyweight has 2 mandatory defenses he needs to deal with in 2020 against Kubrat Pulev and Oleksandr Usyk.
If Joshua is still the champion at the end of next year, he’ll look to face the winner of the Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury rematch for the undisputed heavyweight championship in 2021. Under a best case scenario, Ruiz may need to wait until 2021 before Joshua gives him the trilogy fight that he so badly wants.
Joshua and Matchroom can make money from trilogy match with Ruiz
The only reason Joshua would entertain a third fight with Ruiz is due to the money he can make. Despite how one-sided the rematch was last Saturday, there will be a lot of boxing fans that’ll be interested in seeing Joshua and Ruiz fight again, as long as Andy gets a couple of wins under his belt first.
If Ruiz could be trusted to get in good enough shape, he would probably do well in taking a couple of tune-up fights to prepare for the trilogy match against Joshua. But with all the money that Ruiz has made from his 2 fights with Joshua, it may prove difficult for him to knuckle down, and train hard enough for him to look good.
Ruiz has plenty of doubters that he needs to prove wrong
Ruiz sounds like thinks that he’s always had haters. The critics didn’t surface until after he came into the Joshua rematch out of condition, and they let him have it.
This isn’t a case where the boxing public is out to get Ruiz because of who he is. The fans are upset at Ruiz because he didn’t approach the rematch with Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) in a professional manner by coming into the fight in shape, and ready to defend his three world titles.