Andy Ruiz makes his long-awaited return to the ring on Saturday when he takes on Jarrell Miller, and the former unified world champion has revealed a secret weapon that helped him lift those titles back in 2019.
Ruiz shocked the world when he stopped previously unbeaten Anthony Joshua in New York five years ago to become WBA, WBO and IBF champion, although he would go on to lose those belts in the rematch six months later.
Since then, ‘The Destroyer’ has claimed points wins over Chris Arreola and Luis Ortiz, and is now set to return to action for the first time in nearly two years.
Standing in his way is Miller, the man he replaced at short notice to take on Joshua back in 2019 after Miller failed multiple drugs tests in the build-up to that planned fight at Madison Square Garden.
After nearly four years out of the ring he returned with multiple wins, before suffering a stoppage loss against Daniel Dubois back in December, where he weighed in at a huge 333lbs.
It appears that he has lost a considerable amount of weight ahead of the clash with Ruiz, and even poked fun at his rival by claiming he is ‘no longer eating like Ruiz.’
That has prompted Ruiz to hit back, and reveal to Matchroom Boxing that it was eating the food he did that allowed him to shock the world and become world champion.
“Burritos and Nachos have been helping win all my fights and become champion of the world so nothing wrong about that. And that is exactly what I’m going to do on August 3. I’m going to win. I’m going to get this victory and this victory will be for God.
“No matter how tall you are. How big you are and how much muscle you have. It’s all about what you have inside. And I have a big heart.
“I feel really good. I feel sharp. We did all the hard work in the gym. Yes, I had a two-year layoff but that doesn’t mean that I was outside of the gym, you know. I was still training. I was still disciplined. Even through my ups and downs, God was with me and that’s why we are going to win on Saturday night.
“I had it all and I wanted back. I was the Unified Heavyweight Champion of the World and then boom. It went away. I want it back and I have to do. I know exactly what I did wrong. And I know what I have to do to get it all back.”
The fight between Ruiz and Miller takes place on the Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov card on Saturday, which also features Isaac Cruz facing Jose Valnzuela for the WBA super-lightweight title, David Morrell taking on Radivoje Kalajdzic for the WBA light-heavyweight title, and Jared Anderson fighting Martin Bakole.
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