Andy Ruiz Jr. has opened up on his potential game plan to take on the best fighter in the sport.
The former unified world heavyweight champion is back in the ring next month when he takes on Luis Ortiz at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Ruiz is an ex-custodian of the WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO titles that are now in the possession of Oleksandr Usyk.
The California-based Mexican believes he knows what it will take to beat the Ukrainian (20-0, 13 KOs), who was recently installed as the number one pound-for-pound fighter by Ring Magazine.
Usyk was most recently in action last weekend when he retained his titles with a split decision victory over Anthony Joshua.
The pair met at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia, 11 months on from last September’s first clash which 35-year-old former Olympic gold medallist Usyk won unanimously.
Ruiz was speaking to FightHype.com about the potential showdown against the man who is now targeting an all-the-marbles clash with Tyson Fury, the WBC champion, before the end of the year:
“You have to pressure him and throw combinations. You can’t let him get comfortable because when he gets comfortable and starts doing his thing, he starts getting into a groove…
“I have a Mexican style, I’m a come-forward, pressure-type guy who throws combinations to the head and the body and I think that will be a big difference.”
Ruiz rose to the upper echelons of the sport back in June 2019 when he dethroned the aforementioned Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) for the belts mentioned previously.
He was brought in for the clash at Madison Square Garden in New York after Jarrell Miller was ruled out following a number of drug test violations and dropped the Brit four times en route to stopping him inside seven rounds before being comprehensively outboxed by ‘AJ’ in their rematch six months later in Saudi Arabia.
Joshua, after regaining the belts with a dominant display against Ruiz Jr. in their rematch at the Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, made a successful defence against Kubrat Pulev before suffering the back-to-back defeats against Usyk, who Ruiz Jr. believes he should be in with a shout at fighting.