Andy Ruiz has backed his former gym-mate to get the better of Gennady Golovkin in their trilogy later this year.
The former WBO, IBF, WBA Super and IBO heavyweight champion, who sensationally dethroned Britain’s Anthony Joshua at Madison Square Garden in New York back in June 2019 before being outboxed later in the year as ‘AJ’ reclaimed his titles, is confident in Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s ability.
Ruiz, the Mexican who is based in California and is now training with Alfredo Osuna ahead of his return on September 4 when he meets Luis Ortiz at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, used to work alongside the superstar of the sport under the tutelage of head coach Eddy Reynoso.
The 32-year-old left the team, looking for a fresh start as he looks to once again become a mainstay in the sport’s premier division
Despite this, ‘The Destroyer’ believes ‘Canelo’ has what it takes to do a number on the ageing Kazakh fighter when they fight on September 17 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Whilst speaking to FightHype, Ruiz said:
“I think Canelo beat GGG twice and I think he’s going to beat him a third time. I don’t see anyone beating Canelo at his weight.”
Alvarez goes into the fight with Golovkin on the back of only the second defeat of his career. The 32-year-old, who has won multiple world championships in four weight classes, was on the wrong end of a decision against Russia’s Dmitry Bivol when he challenged for the WBA title up at light-heavyweight back in May.
A split draw and a majority decision win in his favour are the two results of ‘Canelo’s’ previous two clashes with Golovkin, who stopped Ryota Murata inside nine rounds at the Super Arena in Saitama, Japan in April to add the WBA Super world title at middleweight to his IBO and IBF titles.
Ruiz continued on his former training partner:
“He’s undefeated at 168 pounds.”
“I know people say Golovkin is very good, that he will be the best, but he is always focused, strong and trains hard.
“He comes from a loss, but many people don’t understand why he lost.
“He faced someone bigger, he took a risk. For me he didn’t lose, he was just looking for something and he didn’t get it.”