Former unified heavyweight champion, Andy Ruiz Jr, has reflected on his second fight against Anthony Joshua as he continues to push for a shot at either Tyson Fury or a trilogy showdown with ‘AJ’, after just one fight since May 2021.
Ruiz famously became the first man to beat Joshua in one of the heavyweight division’s greatest ever upsets. Ruiz stopped ‘AJ’ in the seventh-round after being drafted in as a late-notice opponent, following Jarrell Miller’s positive drugs test and claimed the Brit’s WBO, WBA and IBF world titles in the process.
Six months later, Ruiz fought Joshua in a rematch in Saudi Arabia, weighing-in at over fourty pounds heavier than Joshua due to ‘poor preparation’ and losing his belts via a wide unanimous-decision.
Speaking to Make A Move, Ruiz says he should never have been allowed to go twelve rounds that night after the lack of training he did – and thinking about fight makes him ‘want to cry’.
“I would like to face Anthony Joshua, we could do that as a trilogy. That is something that makes me want to cry because in the rematch with me and Anthony Joshua I didn’t do nothing right, I didn’t train, I didn’t do nothing.”
“How did I last all those twelve rounds? That was for him to knock me out, easy, but you know what? God is giving me another chance, Jesus Christ is believing in me again, so this time, when I do get the crowns and I do become heavyweight champion of the world, you better believe that I am going to do everything right. I am going to stay as the champion, you better believe it.”
Despite his inactivity, Ruiz sits at number five in the WBC rankings and was ordered for a final eliminator against Deontay Wilder with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger for Tyson Fury, but it seems that clash may be dead in the water.