By Kenneth Friedman: Promoter Kalle Sauerland has strong doubts about whether former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr (33-2, 22 KOs) will be able to bounce back from his one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss to Anthony Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) in their rematch last month on December 7 in Saudi Arabia.
Has success ruined Andy Ruiz?
One of the MAJOR reasons why Sauerland questions whether the 30-year-old Ruiz Jr. will be able to come back from his loss to Joshua is the money that he’s made in his 2 fights with him.
Sauerland points out that Ruiz Jr. has likely ballooned up in weight and is quite heavy now since his loss. Further, Kalle thinks that Ruiz is buying a lot of things with the money he made from his fights with AJ.
Sauerland jokes that Ruiz has purchased 50 Rolls Royce cars, and bought a ranch in New Mexico. He wonders whether Ruiz will wind up as a one-hit wonder.
Andy Ruiz Jr. will find it difficult to come back from loss
“I don’t read into that rubbish, ‘Oh, I didn’t train. I was eating too many tacos, and drinking too many Coronas,” said Sauerland to IFL TV on Ruiz Jr. in his excuse for losing to Joshua. “Yeah, he put on extra weight. Anthony had to go out and put on a performance. End of [story]. Ruiz, if he did clown around…I don’t see an easy way back for him to be quite honest” said Sauerland on Andy.
“People see what he does now with his fast hands,” Sauerland continued about Ruiz. “He made a lot of money in Saudi. As Marvin Hagler said, ‘It’s very difficult to go jogging in your silk pajamas at 5:30 A.M,’ and I don’t see that man anywhere near Marvin Hagler. So for Ruiz now, with his 55 Rolls Royces that he’s bought, and his big ranch in New Mexico. I don’t think life is going to get any easier,” said Sauerland.
With all the money that Ruiz made in his 2 fights, it’ll be difficult for him to go back into the grind of training camp. He made roughly $17 million from his two fights with Joshua. Ruiz is obviously enjoying the fruits of his labor in spending the money.
For Ruiz’s sake, he needs to delay living it up until after he retires. Unfortunately, that’s not going to be easy for him to do. That might be why Sauerland feels that Ruiz won’t have an easy road back, because he’s got all that money now. The green stuff could be burning a hole in Ruiz’s pocket, making him want to purchase things left and right.
Ruiz Jr. is probably walking around at 27 stone [378 lbs] – Sauerland
“I would guess he’s probably walking around today at 27 stone [378 lbs],” Sauerand said about Ruiz Jr. “So if you think he went off, and put himself in a dark room like Joshua did after the Madison Square Garden fight, and worked like a fighter, I don’t think Ruiz is doing it.
“I don’t know the guy, but he still provided us with an absolute shock and highlight last year. It was a great performance, but was it a one-hit wonder? We’ll see,” said Sauerland.
Given that Ruiz weighed 283 lbs for the weigh-in for his rematch with Joshua, it’s easy to assume he’s well over 300 lbs now. if Ruiz is weighing 378 lbs now, his career could be over. That’s a heck of a lot of weight for Ruiz to be carrying around.
Ruiz’s trainer Manny Robles says he wanted him to weigh 250 lbs for the rematch with Joshua, but he couldn’t do it. If Ruiz balloons up to 378 lbs, his next training camp would be a glorified fat farm. he would need to lose approximately 130 lbs for him to get down to 250 lbs.
While it might be possible for Ruiz to do that, he would likely be weak and lethargic inside the ring. Losing over 100 lbs during a training camp is an insane number. Ruiz could do it, and still win if he’s matched against a mediocre heavyweight.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn says he wants Ruiz to fight Dillian Whyte or Alexander Povetkin next. That would be a really bad idea if Ruiz starts training camp at 378 lbs. It would be a bad idea anyway for Ruiz to fight either of those guys, considering how badly he lost to Joshua.
Joshua’s game plan for Ruiz Jr. rematch was a simple one
“He was very, very good,” said Sauerland to about Joshua’s win over Ruiz. “He wasn’t the Joshua that people like to see. I mean, the Joshua that is a great puncher, and that jumps on people when he hurts them. He’s exciting from that point, because big punchers themselves expose themselves to big punches.
“I was very impressed that he’d gone away, and put together a game plan,” said Sauerland on Joshua regrouping after his loss to Ruiz. “It was a simple game plan, but that game plan has to stay in place 12 rounds. It can’t stay in place for 2 rounds. They kept it in place. So hats off to [trainer] Rob McCracken. It was great work, and hats off to AJ,” said Sauerland.
Joshua had already used the same game plan in his fight against Joseph Parker two years ago in Cardiff, Wales. Basically, the game plan for Joshua was for him to imitate Wladimir Klitschko’s old fighting style, and he did that effectively. As Sauerland said, it was “simple game plan.”
It shouldn’t have been a surprise to Ruiz Jr. and his trainer Robles, but it was. They just didn’t realize that Joshua would revert back to the Klitschko fighting style for the rematch. It seemed obvious that’s what Joshua was going to do, because it was being reported that he was talking to Wladimir.
Mairis Briedis vs. Yunier Dorticos WBSS cruiserweight tournament final to be announced this week
The final of the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament between Mairis Briedis (26-1, 19 KOs) and Yunier Dorticos (24-1, 22 KOs) will be announced this week, according to Sauerland. Former WBC cruiserweight champion Briedis and current IBF champion Dorticos will be battling it out in the final of the WBSS tournament.
Besides the 33-year-old Dorticos’ IBF belt that will be at stake, the Muhammad Ali Trophy will be on the line, and POSSIBLY the Ring Magazine cruiserweight title.
Dorticos defeated Mateusz Masternak by a 12 round unanimous decision in the quarterfinal of the WBSS tournament in October 2018. In the semifinal, Dorticos destroyed Andrew Tabiti by a 10th round knockout last June.
For his part, the 34-year-old Briedis beat Noel Gevor by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision in the quarterfinal of the WBSS tournament in November 2018 in Chicago. In the semifinal, Briedis beat Krzysztof Glowacki by a 3rd round knockout last June.
