{"id":1186012,"date":"2026-09-04T12:35:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T12:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1186012\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T12:35:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T12:35:21","slug":"andy-ruiz-jr-once-turned-boxing-upside-down-can-he-do-it-again-at-36-boxing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1186012\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Ruiz Jr once turned boxing upside down. Can he do it again at 36? | Boxing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seven years ago, Andy Ruiz Jr became the first fighter of Mexican descent to win the world heavyweight championship in one of the biggest upsets boxing has ever seen, stopping the undefeated Anthony Joshua<\/a> inside seven rounds at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

A replacement opponent summoned on five weeks\u2019 notice<\/a> who went off as an 11-1 underdog, Ruiz came off the canvas in the third to knock Joshua down four times before the referee finally waved it off. Hailed as the \u201cMexican Rocky\u201d, he was lionized as a border-straddling hero<\/a> in his hometown of Imperial, the dusty agricultural community framed by the mountain ranges and flat deserts of south-eastern California. He made the late-night rounds<\/a>, took an audience with Mexico president Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador<\/a> and signed a $10m guarantee when Joshua activated his rematch clause. The money, cars, fame and women arrived all at once.<\/p>\n

Barely six months later, Ruiz was an ex-champion who had taken his place alongside Buster Douglas, Leon Spinks and James J Braddock in heavyweight boxing\u2019s one-and-done club. His 190-day reign ended with a listless points defeat to Joshua in the sand-blown Saudi Arabian city of Diriyah, after three months of partying and a self-abbreviated training camp that left him 15lb heavier than he had been for their first meeting. At a 3am press conference after the fight that ached with pathos, Ruiz admitted he had been overconfident<\/a> and had failed to take the rematch seriously, the regret plain on his marked-up face.<\/p>\n

Ruiz, who turns 37 next week, has fought only three times in the more than six years since, a wilderness period marked by fluctuating weight, injuries and enough false starts to make the most famous win of his career feel like an artifact from another life.<\/p>\n

On Friday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, about 10 miles west of the Manhattan arena where his life changed forever, Ruiz will launch one final campaign for the heavyweight summit, testing the limits of even boxing\u2019s generous capacity for second chances. He will face the 6ft 7in Damian Knyba in a 12-round non-title fight, his first appearance since a majority draw with Jarrell Miller more than two years ago and the first of a three-fight contract with Eddie Hearn\u2019s promotional company.<\/p>\n

Andy Ruiz Jr throws out the ceremonial first pitch before the Padres\u2019 game against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park last month in San Diego. Photograph: Matt Thomas\/San Diego Padres\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

There was a time when another run at the title was more plausible. Even after losing the WBA, IBF and WBO belts to Joshua, Ruiz was only 30 and remained one of the division\u2019s most naturally gifted offensive fighters, blessed with unusually fast hands and an ability to throw blinding combinations that belied his doughy frame. It was the same contradiction that had followed him since childhood, when opponents routinely underestimated the chubby kid whose hand speed and ring intelligence were apparent in the amateur ranks long before the rest of the world took notice.<\/p>\n

Manny Robles, the 54-year-old trainer who guided Ruiz through both Joshua fights, is once again in his corner after their messy split<\/a> amid the wreckage of the rematch. Ruiz had gone on to enlist Eddy Reynoso, the trainer best known for his partnership with Canelo \u00c1lvarez, before his 2021 comeback against Chris Arreola, then switched to Alfredo Osuna for his win over Luis Ortiz the following year. By the time he returned from another long absence to fight Miller in 2024, Ruiz said he was effectively training himself and \u201chalf-assing\u201d with \u201cone foot in the water and one foot out\u201d.<\/p>\n

Their reconciliation began over pi\u00f1a coladas while Ruiz was vacationing with his girlfriend in Tulum. As he reflected on the heavyweight division moving on without him, Ruiz said he swallowed his pride and, a little intoxicated, messaged Robles on Instagram to ask if he would train him again. Robles replied almost immediately that he would, provided Ruiz was prepared to listen, focus and give him \u201c120%\u201d of his time and dedication.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just happy that I reunited with Manny Robles,\u201d Ruiz said Wednesday in Newark. \u201cBefore with the other fights and the other opponents that I had, I wasn\u2019t doing the right things that I was supposed to. [He] kind of woke me up, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re here now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their reunion has become the most credible evidence that Ruiz\u2019s comeback is different from the fits and starts that came before. Robles said they have spent virtually the entire year in the gym together rather than assembling for a conventional training camp. \u201cThis did not start two months ago or three months ago,\u201d Robles said. \u201cIt\u2019s been the entire year and it\u2019s been great to get to this point. I\u2019m glad to say I got the old Andy back, and he\u2019s in great shape mentally, physically, spiritually. He\u2019s in a good place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy Ruiz Jr knocks down Anthony Joshua in the third round of their heavyweight title fight at New York\u2019s Madison Square Garden on 1 June 2019. Photograph: Al Bello\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

There was at least some evidence for Robles\u2019s optimism at Thursday\u2019s weigh-in. Ruiz came in at a svelte 254.3lb, his lightest since a 2018 win over Kevin Johnson and 29.4lb below the career-high 283.7lb he weighed for the Joshua rematch. Knyba weighed 255.5lb, leaving barely a pound between fighters separated by six inches in height.<\/p>\n

There have been legitimate obstacles on Ruiz\u2019s road back, including surgeries on his right knee in 2021 and on a torn rotator cuff in 2023. He then broke his right hand during the Miller fight but pressed on through the injury for all 12 rounds. He initially hoped it would heal without an operation before eventually undergoing surgery, another setback that contributed to the 762-day absence that ends on Friday.<\/p>\n

Ruiz took his recovery slowly, spent time with his five children and worked on property developments with his Mexican-born father, the contractor who introduced him to boxing aged five to tame a hyperactive streak and spent years ferrying him across the border to gyms in Mexicali. He started going to church. Having earned about $17m from the Joshua fights alone, there was no financial imperative. But eventually, as he puts it, he \u201cbecame tired of being tired\u201d and \u201cbored of being bored\u201d.<\/p>\n

The timing could hardly be better for a lapsed heavyweight contender attempting to re-enter the frame. It took a quarter-century for boxing to produce the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis \u2013 when Oleksandr Usyk finally unified all four major titles by outpointing Tyson Fury<\/a> in May 2024 \u2013 and barely two years for the division to splinter completely again. With the 39-year-old Usyk having vacated his remaining titles<\/a> in June, the belts are now scattered among Murat Gassiev (the WBA champion), Agit Kabayel (WBC), Filip Hrgovi\u0107 (IBF) and Daniel Dubois (WBO), creating no shortage of potential pathways back to the top.<\/p>\n

For a former world champion with a recognizable name and one of the most famous victories of the past decade, a win on Friday could propel Ruiz right back into the championship mix. Even a lucrative rubber match with Joshua, once seemingly fanciful, could be in play after the Englishman\u2019s anticipated November showdown with Fury. (Ruiz\u2019s recently released diss track<\/a>, which name-checks no fewer than a half-dozen of his heavyweight rivals, suggests he\u2019s not wanting for ambition.)<\/p>\n

Andy Ruiz Jr weighed in at 254.3lb for Friday\u2019s fight against Damian Knyba, his lightest fighting weight since 2018. Photograph: Matchroom Boxing<\/p>\n

There is neat symmetry to Ruiz\u2019s return. It was Ruiz himself who messaged Hearn back in 2019, pleading for the opportunity when Miller was removed from the Joshua fight after testing positive<\/a> for performance-enhancing drugs. Now, after fielding offers elsewhere, Ruiz has aligned himself with the promoter whose carefully laid heavyweight plans he turned upside down that night in New York.<\/p>\n

Hearn makes no secret of the commercial calculus. \u201cIt\u2019s a business decision,\u201d he said of Ruiz\u2019s deal with Matchroom. The promoter believes the hand speed, punching power and durability that made Ruiz such an improbable nightmare for Joshua remain intact, while his heritage and history give him a box-office ceiling few heavyweights today can match. \u201cIf he gets this right and starts going through the division,\u201d Hearn said, \u201che\u2019s going to be one of the biggest stars in the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knyba (17-1, 11 KOs), an enormous fighter even by heavyweight standards who carries an 86in reach, represents the first examination. The New Jersey-based Pole is coming off the lone defeat on his professional ledger, a January stoppage loss to Germany\u2019s Kabayel where he enjoyed promising stretches before the fight was stopped in the third round. At Wednesday\u2019s final press conference, Knyba called the experience proof that he could operate at the elite level and said he expects to face \u201cthe most hungry and best version of Andy Ruiz\u201d. A substantial Polish contingent is expected, recalling the rollicking crowds that once made two-weight world champion Tomasz Adamek a major draw in Newark.<\/p>\n

For Ruiz (35-2-1, 22 KOs), the size discrepancy is nothing new. At 6ft 1in, he has spent his entire career looking up at heavyweights with more conventional builds. \u201c[Knyba]\u2019s a giant,\u201d Ruiz said. \u201cThat\u2019s why they call me the giant slayer, because I\u2019m always a small guy fighting these big, big guys. But for some reason it works for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The matchup also serves a practical purpose. There is little value now in easing Ruiz back in against an opponent who cannot tell him anything about what\u2019s left. As Hearn put it bluntly: \u201cIf you\u2019ve got the ambition to really do what you say you want to do, which is to go and win the world heavyweight title again, you have to be beating guys like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruiz learned seven years ago there are only so many tomorrows a fighter can waste before they run out. At 36 and finally ready to make them count, he\u2019s about to find out how many he has left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seven years ago, Andy Ruiz Jr became the first fighter of Mexican descent to win the world heavyweight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1186013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-1186012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117212802309096671","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1186012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1186013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1186012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1186012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1186012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}