By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Eddy Reynoso is looking to rebuild former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr to return him to world championship status, and he believes he can do it.
Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) hasn’t fought since his loss to Anthony Joshua a year and a half ago, and many boxing fans have already given up on the weight-challenged heavyweight.
Ruiz, 31, recently switched out his trainer Manny Robles in favor of Reynoso, believing that this would be the magic wand that will return him to his past glory.
Ruiz will find out soon that Reynoso is no better at fixing his problems than his past trainers Robles and Abel Sanchez.
Reynoso is in demand as a trainer because Canelo Alvarez, who he’s had under his tutelage from the start of his professional career.
Arreola will be test for Ruiz on Reynoso’s training
Ruiz believes that Reynoso will be able to work his magic on him in the same way he did with Canelo, but it remains to be seen. Some boxing fans believe that Canelo has learned more from observing other fighters than he has from Reynoso.
If Ruiz believes that Reynoso will be the guy that turns around for him, he could be in for a big disappointment. Reynoso isn’t going to be able to fix Ruiz’s slow feet, lack of height nor can he live him, and guard his refrigerator day and night.
Next month, we’re going to see the impact of Reynoso’s training methods when Ruiz takes on 40-year-old former two-time world title challenger Chris ‘Nightmare’ Arreola (38-6-1, 33 KOs) on April 24th on Fox PPV.
“I don’t know what the impact of Eddy Reynoso will be. Reynoso has had most of his success with smaller weight fighters,” said Chris Mannix of DAZN.
“I’m curious what Reynoso is going to be able to do with a heavyweight like Andy Ruiz. He doesn’t have great footwork. He does have fast hands and is a skilled guy but I don’t know what Team Reynoso is going to be able to enhance.”
Ruiz has already hit his prime, and he’s been exposed in his losses to Joseph Parker and Joshua. He can’t boxers and movers, and that’s something that Reynoso won’t be able to change.
What happens if Ruiz struggles against Arreola?
It could be a walkup call for Ruiz if he struggles against Arreola and is forced to dig deep to beat the past his prime heavyweight. Losing to Arreola would be a sheer disaster for Ruiz, something that could result in Reynoso being quickly ushered out as his trainer.
That’s why it’s important that Ruiz look in the mirror and realize that there is no trainer that is going to be able to magically make him what he wasn’t designed to be.
It’s fitting that Ruiz is facing Arreola, seeing that he’s this era’s version of that fighter. Arreola was a good contender during his best years, and he made excellent money in twice challenging for world titles.
But it was clear that Arreola was too short and too much of a wide-body for him to ever capture a world title.
With the same built-in limitations as Arreola, Ruiz has already surpassed what was expected of him when he first turned professional in 2009, but this might as it gets for him. It’s quite possible that Ruiz is just a one-hit wonder, and he’ll win another world title for the remainder of his career.
Ruiz can go ahead and dump Reynoso once he loses again, but there isn’t a trainer out there that will be able to turn him into a good enough fighter to win another world title.
Andy needs the perfect set-up to win a title
Ruiz’s best chance of winning another world title is if the badly flawed former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder ever gets his hands on another strap.
If Wilder gets lucky and knocks out Joshua or Tyson Fury, Ruiz would have an excellent chance of beating him. Unfortunately, Wilder is unlikely to ever capture another world title as well, but for different reasons than Ruiz.
Ruiz has short legs, and as a result, he moves slowly around the ring. It doesn’t matter how much work Reynoso puts in with Ruiz, it’s not going to cause his legs to grow.
That’s why it seems Ruiz is looking for the impossible for him to keep drifting from one trainer to the next, believing that one is any better
“They both come forward,” said Leo Santa Cruz to Fighthype on Arreola vs. Ruiz. “I know it’s going to be a good fight. Andy comes forward, and Arreola comes forward. They’re going to be going back and forth. It’s going to be a great war.”