Andy Ruiz Jr says he’s lost 20 pounds recently in training with Team Canelo for his next fight. The former IBFWBA/WBO heavyweight champion Ruiz Jr has been out of the ring for 12 months since losing to Anthony Joshua in their rematch in Saudi Arabia last year in December.
Ruiz Jr (33-2, 22 KOs) is hoping that Canelo’s trainer Eddy Reynoso can help motivate him to recapture his lost heavyweight titles. Some boxing fans believe this new training situation for Ruiz is doomed for failure.
Reynoso isn’t going to be able to turn Ruiz Jr into the heavyweight division’s version of Canelo. A fighter like Canelo would do well with any trainer. He’s just a special person.
There’s a lot riding on Ruiz’s next performance to show whether he made the right decision to part ways with his previous trainer Manny Robles in favor of Reynoso.
Ruiz, 31, has a lot of belief in Reynoso’s ability to take his career to the next level, and unfortunately, that may not happen. Reynoso is a good trainer, as is Ruiz’s previous trainers Abel Sanchez and Robles.
But that doesn’t mean that Reynoso is going to get more out of Ruiz than those guys did. If Ruiz eventually loses once he steps up against an elite heavyweight, he’ll have to deal with the reality that he’s just not good enough.
For now, the weight loss for Ruiz Jr is good news. It’s unclear if Ruiz is still trying to take off the weight that he packed on a year ago or if he packed on more weight after having lost a ton.
If Ruiz is still dealing with his back and forth weight issues, it’s not a good sign. Reynoso isn’t going to be able to do anything that unless he moves in with Ruiz and follows him around to keep tabs on him to make sure he’s not gorging 24/7.
Whatever the case, Ruiz can’t afford to go into his next fight in the same physical condition that he was for his rematch with Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) last year in December. Ruiz weighed in at a 283-pound blob and was much too heavy to chase the evasive Joshua around the ring for 12 rounds.
Ruiz Jr still hasn’t nailed down his next opponent. A number of different fighters have been mentioned like Carlos Takam, Chris Arreola, and Luis Ortiz. Andy needs to pick someone decent if he’s to be taken seriously as deserving of another crack at a world title.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn said that they won’t consider a trilogy match with Ruiz unless he puts some quality wins under his belt. Hearn said that earlier this year, and yet we’ve seen nothing from Ruiz. He chose not to fight in 2020 and that’s not a good deal. There’s no excuse for Ruiz not fighting at least once this year.
We’ll have to see if Ruiz’s inertia lasts through next year as well. It might be a waste of time for Ruiz to be hanging around with Team Canelo if he’s not going to get back into the ring and resume his career.
If Ruiz still isn’t fighting through next year, he might as well go back to his former trainer Robles. Having Reynoso as a trainer is okay as long as Ruiz is staying active with his career and getting results.
But thus far, nothing has happened, and Ruiz has burned through all of 2020 without fighting. It could be that Ruiz lacks the ambition that he needs to be a top fighter. You have to be hungry, and it’s unclear whether Ruiz still has that hunger after making millions for his two fights with Joshua.
He’s not that good of a heavyweight that he can afford to throw long periods of time living the good life, fishing, and eating.