Andy Ruiz Jr. isn’t concerned with his latest spell of inactivity heading into Saturday’s heavyweight clash against Jarrell Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs) on August 3rd in Los Angeles.
Miller has an excellent chance of winning this fight and ending Ruiz’s hopes of recapturing his world titles. Promoter Eddie Hearn predicts a win for Jarrell, and I agree. Miller is a go-getter and wants it more than Ruiz.
I think the $10 million that Ruiz got for his two fights against Anthony Joshua did a number on him, sapping him of every ounce of ambition that he once had to keep his career going. Ruiz bought a mansion up in the hills, surrounded it with farm animals, and hasn’t shown much inclination to keep fighting.
If not for His Excellency Turki Alalshikh luring Ruiz back to fight on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs. Ismail Madrimov this Saturday at the BMO Stadium, he’d still be inactive.
Ruiz Confident Despite Layoff
The former unified heavyweight champion Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) says he feels ring rust won’t be a problem for him on Saturday night because when he last fought two years ago against Luis Ortiz, he was coming off a similar long layoff and felt he was “sharp.”
Ruiz barely edged the 43-year-old Ortiz in that fight, so the ring rust was more of a problem than he wanted to acknowledge. It’s been a major problem for Ruiz, and has stalled his career, preventing him from getting the lucrative trilogy match he’s been asking for against Anthony Joshua and a fight against Tyson Fury.
There were reports of Ruiz pricing himself out for a fight against Fury by asking for $20 million. Deontay Wilder was interested in fighting Ruiz a couple of years ago, but that fight failed to pan out, too.
The 34-year-old Ruiz lost his IBF, WBA, and WBO heavyweight titles in his rematch with Anthony Joshua in December 2019. Ruiz has fought twice since, beating Chris Arreola, 40, and Luis Ortiz.
The ‘Destroyer’ Ruiz says his goal is to become a two-time heavyweight champion, but that doesn’t sound too realistic. Perhaps a more attainable goal is for Ruiz to beat the 36-year-old Jarrell Miller on Saturday night at the BMO Stadium and then continue to be included in His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s events.
If Turki wants Ruiz to fight for a world title against whoever emerges as the champion when the smoke clears in 2025, he’s the one who can make it happen.
“I had a beautiful camp, a focused camp. I have a gym outside of my house. All I do is train, and then I go back to my house and train again,” Andy Ruiz told DAZN Boxing about his latest comeback this Saturday night against Jarrell Miller on August 3rd.
Fans see Ruiz as the favorite for his fight against Miller, but he might be outworked by the more active fighter. Miller still has a great engine despite being 300+ lbs, and he might be too busy for Ruiz.
Andy’s best chance of winning this fight is scoring a knockout or dropping Miller several times, as he did with his last opponent, Luis Ortiz. Ruiz would have lost to Ortiz without the three knockdowns he scored. Ortiz gave Ruiz a boxing lesson in that fight in the rounds he didn’t get dropped.
“A lot of people have said, ‘Hey, it’s been two years. Are you scared of the ring rust that you might have?’ Yes, and not because when I fought Luis Ortiz, I had a long layoff, too [1.5 years], and I thought I was pretty sharp,” said Ruiz about his last fight two years ago in 2022.
It sounds like Ruiz is in denial about his ring rust problem because it is a major issue going into his match against Miller on Saturday. Being out of the ring for two years is not a joke for anyone, especially a one-hit wonder type of fighter like Ruiz.
Before Ruiz’s miracle seventh-round upset win over Anthony Joshua on June 1st, 2019, he was an undisciplined gatekeeper with a reputation for not working hard in training camp.
Ruiz Targeting Heavyweight World Title
“I felt I could have done better, but I felt I was pretty sharp. I think I’m going to be good [against Jarrell Miller on Saturday],” said Ruiz.” I feel like I’m going to be focused. I feel like I’m going to be sharp. I’m going to be ready. I know that Jarrell Miller has been fighting. This is going to be his third or fourth fight.”
Hopefully, Ruiz is focused on Saturday night against Jarrell Miller, but it might not be enough to overcome his two years of inactivity and his poor performances against 40+-year-old veterans Ortiz and Arreola in his last two fights. Ruiz hasn’t fought the type of competition to stay sharp, and his chronic spells of inactivity make things worse for him.
“I’m not scared of nothing like that [being ring rusty]. I’m just focused on the mission that I need to complete to become the two-time heavyweight champion of the world,” said Ruiz.
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