With Wilder vs Fury II Approaching, will Cali’s Andy Ruiz Be Left in the Dust?

By Jeff Duarte
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Updated: February 13, 2020

It was like a scene out of a Rocky film. Where the underdog Rocky Balboa, (played brilliantly by Sylvester Stallone), would overcome the odds by defeating the heavily favored, and more skilled Apollo Creed, (played brilliantly by Carl Weathers, who is now hanging out with Baby Yoda on Disney’s The Mandalorian), winning the prestigious Boxing Heavyweight Championship of the World! That’s how it looked and felt to me, when last minute replacement, and huge underdog, Andy Ruiz jr, of Imperial, California, made history by upsetting the heavily favored, WBA Super, IBF, WBO & IBO World Heavyweight Champion, Anthony (AJ) Joshua at Madison Square Garden in New York City. And he did it with a brutal and dominant 7th round TKO! (Stallone and Weathers would have been proud! Or maybe they are proud? How do I know, I never met them but whatever. You know what I mean). The boxing world was in shock! How could this no name, soft spoken and stout boxer, who seemed to come out of nowhere, win over the undefeated, handsome, chiseled and powerful World Champion so easily? (Some were even saying that Joshua was the most dominant World Heavyweight Champion since Lennox Lewis. But that’s pure nonsense and hyperbole. Despite his impressive 23-1 record, AJ has not fought the quality level of fighters that Lewis, or Holyfield, or Tyson, or Ali, Louis, Marciano etc., had faced after their first 24 fights. Oh Eddie Hearn, you propaganda spreading machine, you). It’s fights like these that made me love the sport of boxing, (so much so I even got to box at the amateur level). This shocking victory not only placed Ruiz at the top of the mountain as the keeper of most of the alphabet World titles, (except for the WBC title and Lineal claim), Ruiz became the first World Heavyweight Champion of Mexican descent! This entire scenario was just amazing.

(Ruiz shocking the world. Photo – theringer)

Sadly the good times didn’t last long. Ruiz was completely outclassed and outgunned by AJ throughout the entire rematch in Saudi Arabia, (oh Eddie Hearn and your love for blood money), going the full 12 round distance, but losing on all of the judge’s cards, 118–110, 118–110, and 119–109. (I had AJ winning 118-110 as well). Ruiz’s World title reign ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. With Joshua regaining his alphabet titles, and WBC World Champion Deontay Wilder ready to do battle again with the Lineal World Champion Tyson Fury, Ruiz has sadly been left in the dust. But will he stay there?

(AJ getting revenge. photo : sports illustrated)

Stepping away from the similarities from the beloved, but fictional Rocky series, there have been many great upsets that have rocked the Boxing world. When it comes to the heavyweight division, two of the most famous ones took place during an era (1988-2003), where the super stacked heavyweight division reigned supreme as the sport’s cream of the crop. The most famous boxing upset is still talked about to this day. That was on February 11th, 1990 in Tokyo, Japan, when 42-1 underdog, James “Buster” Douglas knocked out the Unified and Undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF and Lineal World Champion, “Iron” Mike Tyson in the 10th round. The result was so shocking, you could hear a pin drop in the 60,000 seated Tokyo Dome. (Even loud mouth promoter and Tyson’s manager Don King was speechless!) This championship victory by Douglas was bittersweet as just 23 days earlier, Douglas’ mother, Luna Pearl, suddenly and tragically passed away. Douglas dedicated the championship victory to his late mother. (Side-note – This fight was also the first time ever, any boxer took the dangerously, aggressive and seemingly unstoppable Mike Tyson beyond the 5th round in a fight).

(Douglas knocking Tyson down and out. Photo : sportsillustrated)

Now that fight didn’t get away without some controversies, as Tyson and King filed a complaint with the powers that be against the referee in the fight, accusing him of counting too slow when Tyson knocked down Douglas in the 8th round. Re-watching the fight many times, I also found the count to be slower than is normally done, but in the end, “Buster” defied the odds, the boxing Gods, and won the fight and the colorful the belts to reach the top of the mountain. And no one could ever take that away from him. Sadly though, his time on top didn’t last very long.

In Douglas’ first ever title defense, (or defenses, as he was defending 3 alphabet World title belts and the lineal legacy), Buster showed up to this fight overweight, slow and sluggish, facing off against the former undisputed and dominant Cruiserweight Champion of the World, who had just made the big jump up to heavyweight, Evander Holyfield. We all know how that played out, but be as it may, Douglas did take the fight to Holyfield in the first two rounds, before gassing out and getting knocked out in the 3rd round. Just like that, “Buster” Douglas had become a one hit wonder. Many boxing critics, analysts and pundits have the opinion that Andy Ruiz jr. will now join him in that category. And I can see how they feel that way. Like Douglas, Ruiz came into his first title(s) defense also overweight, (well he was never in great looking shape to begin with, but he came in to this fight even heavier than normal), was very slow and sluggish. But just because Douglas never came close to being back on top of that mountain again, it doesn’t mean the game is over for the 30 year old Ruiz. Let’s look at the other heavyweight title upset that I mentioned earlier. The one with Hasim “The Rock” (not Dwayne Johnson) Rahman.

(Rahman knocking out Lewis. Photo : sportsillustrated)

On April 2, 2001, in Carnival City, South Africa, Rahman shocked the world by knocking out the Undisputed, Unified and G.O.A.T. contender, WBC, IBF, IBO & Lineal World Champion Lennox Lewis, in the 5th round. Rahman celebrated like a rock star, and rightfully so, but many agreed that Lewis seemed to have come into that fight overly-confident and heavier than normal. The boxing world knew that Lewis was pound for pound one of the greatest boxers of all-time, and he was heavily pushing for a dream fight against another G.O.A.T. contender in Mike Tyson. So Lewis’ focus was somewhere else. Like Tyson’s was before he lost to Douglas, as Tyson may not have been that focused for that fight either, due to his “escapades” with the female hotel staff, and the hyped up fight in his sight lines that would have been the bigger money fight of Tyson vs Holyfield, if Tyson had beaten Douglas. But none of that matters. It wasn’t “Buster” Douglas’ fault if Tyson didn’t prepare himself properly for their title fight, the same it wasn’t Hasim Rahman’s fault that Lewis didn’t prepare himself properly for that fight either. In the end, Douglas and Rahman became THE World Champion.

Of course Rahman’s fun also didn’t last very long, as a few months later in Paradise, Nevada, Lennox Lewis came back with a vengeance and DESTROYED Rahman with a devastating knockout in the 4th round, regaining the World title belts and Lineal claim. This rematch wasn’t even a close one. Lewis showed up in great shape, and super angry, and attacked Rahman with some seriously bad intentions. Rahman had no answer for Lewis’ wrath. (To be fair, it served him right as Rahman was smack talking at Lewis for months like a man possessed. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t a smart idea to piss off someone as talented and determined as Lennox). But unlike Douglas, who did win his last 8 out of 9 fights before retiring, all of them were against average, mid-card fighters, Rahman still had a very good career, and even got to win the WBC World title again, though it was the interim version. (But still, a belts a belt!) So despite what happened to two of the most famous upset World Title winners in “Buster” Douglas and Hasim Rahman, Andy Ruiz jr, already has some advantages that Douglas and Rahman did not.

(Holyfield and Lewis battle it out in one of their two epic fights. Photo – sportsillustrated)

First of all, though Ruiz was outgunned by a faster, more focused and better prepared Anthony Joshua in their rematch, AJ never really hurt him in that fight. At least not seriously, Both Douglas and Rahman were embarrassingly knocked out, but Ruiz went the distance in his title(s) loss, so he has that going for him. Also, the Heavyweight division isn’t at the high, intense level it was during it’s peak in the ’90’s, with the likes of Tyson, Lewis, Holyfield, David Tua, a returning (and happier) George Foreman, Riddick Bowe, Tommy Morrison, Michael Moorer and Andrew Golota having epic title fights, battles, and feuds with each other, that had the whole world watching and wanting more, making those fights huge money draws for the fighters, promoters, casinos, and arenas for both attendance and pay-per view buys. Every heavyweight fight then, was a must watch.

The division today sadly isn’t as stacked with as many fighters at a high talent level like it did back then. But it is a lot stronger then it has been since Lewis retired in 2003 and both Tyson and Holyfield were way past their prime. And there is a lot more interest from fans for the big man’s division than there was for most of the 2000’s, when the Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali, who were very tough and talented, reigned supreme, but had no one of value to really fight and challenge them. They were just about it. The only true contenders to their shared throne was each other but they promised their mother that they would never fight each other, so the biggest money fight that was possible at the time never happened, and the division became quite stagnant for years. But thanks in largely to the talents and fights of AJ, Fury, Wilder and Ruiz, the heavyweight division seems to be entering a promising renaissance. All of this is a bonus for Ruiz, who can calm down after the loss, refocus, and get back into the gym to do the hard work that got him to the top to begin with. He has no choice but to do that. Especially after admitting that he hardly trained for the AJ rematch, and spent way too time partying. Something that his father, coaches and training partners were very disappointed with. (Yeah, not a great game plan there Ruiz). Ruiz has even parted ways with his long time coach Manny Robles after the loss. Only time will tell if that is a good move or a poor one. We all know how focused (or brainwashed???) boxing promoter and manager, Eddie Hearn keeps Joshua, and how obsessive Fury and Wilder are with winning fights with ultra violence. If Ruiz doesn’t want to be a one hit wonder, he has a great opportunity to be able to do something about that.

(Ruiz and coach Robles during happier times. Photo – Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing UK)

Here’s why. Yes, Wilder and Fury will be battling it out again in their rematch, coming up on February 22nd in Vegas. And yes, Hearn already has AJ setting up to defend his titles in a mandatory fight (not sure for which alphabet titles), against Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev in London. But IF all goes to plan, and everything falls into place, the winner of the Wilder vs Fury fight, will (hopefully, do you hear me Hearn! Hopefully) fight the winner of Joshua and Pulev. One would be insane to predict who would win between Fury and Wilder, as their first match was just BONKERS and ended in a wild draw, (though most agree, including myself, that Fury should have won that fight). Heck, Wilder even knocked Fury down in the final round with a punch that would normally kill a man! Fury looked down and out! Ring that bell because this fight it OVER! That is until Fury rose up from the dead like he was wrestling’s The Undertaker, got back into the fight and WON THE ROUND! (Ewwwwhaatttt?!?!?!) Those two boxers are out of this world, but it’s a safe bet that AJ will get through Pulev without much trouble. (Then again, they said the same thing when AJ was going to fight Ruiz the first time).

Now with all of that happening, this gives Ruiz a perfect opportunity to get a tune up fight and get his career back on track. Go into that fight after a great training camp (with no partying), and get his confidence back with a victory. With his confidence returning, and Ruiz in a weight that he’s more comfortable with, his speed and powerful punches will return. The same speedy and powerful punches that confused and took out AJ in their first battle and the same speedy and powerful punches he lost because of his extra weight in the rematch. Well at least all of this makes sense in theory. Then when AJ fights the winner of Wilder/Fury in a long overdue unification World title(s) bout, Ruiz can fight the loser. If Ruiz can then get a victory over Fury or Wilder, he’s right back in the title hunt.

(World Champion Anthony “AJ” Joshua with manager and boxing promoter, Don Kin… I mean Eddie Hearn. Photo – boxingscene)

But those of us that follow the sport of boxing know that politics play a huge role behind the scenes. (Because let’s be serious here. Why hasn’t AJ fought Fury and Wilder already to unify the titles? Well, it’s because Hearn is protecting him, and carefully choosing his fights. Which is why I call Hearn the Don King of the modern day). But if Ruiz really wants it bad enough, and if he is willing to work out hard enough, and to put in the extra time to take his skills back to a higher level, (you know, like how Rocky Balboa does before the final fight of each film), when that dust finally settles after the other three boxers go at it and beat each other up in an all out war with each other, it could be Ruiz being the one left standing. This time focused, hungry and with a chip on his shoulder, ready to destroy whatever is still remaining of his battle scarred contemporaries. And all talk of him being a one hit wonder will never be brought up or spoken again. But then again, Ruiz is going to have to want it bad enough for it to happen. He has the skills and he has the experience. He knows now what it takes to reach the top, and he learned the hard way how easily you can lose it all. Of course defeating AJ a second time, or defeating a Wilder or Fury is no easy task. But it’s possible. And we’ll have to see how Ruiz’ new coaches will help him, or if Ruiz will even listen to them, as his former coach has stated that Ruiz wasn’t listening to anyone, including his own father during the disastrous training camp for the rematch. Learning things like that make me question if the hunger and the passion is still there for Ruiz? Was it ever there? For his sake I really hope so. If not, then he better be prepared to be forever on the one hit wonder list, along with “Buster” Douglas and Hasim Rahman. So it’s your move, Ruiz. Let’s see this feel good story be completed with a happy ending. You know, like in Rocky. And Rocky II. And Rocky III. And …