Andy Ruiz Wastes His Comeback Against Damian Knyba

The years have not been kind to Andy Ruiz Jr. (35-3-1, 22 KOs), but age alone did not produce the sluggish, confused heavyweight who lost to Damian Knyba (18-1, 11 KOs) on Friday night. This was the end product of sitting on his backside, spending his millions, rarely fighting, and treating his career like something he could restart whenever the mood returned.

Ruiz had been out for 25 months following his draw with Jarrell Miller. He returned at 36 expecting his old hand speed and combination punching to reappear on command, but boxing does not work that way. His feet were slow, his output was poor, and he spent long stretches following Knyba without finding a reliable route inside.

Knyba kept the former champion at range with a steady jab and dropped him hard in the seventh. Ruiz survived only after the referee gave him plenty of recovery time before allowing the action to continue. The scores were 117-110 and 114-113 twice, with the narrow cards flattering Ruiz enormously.

A Joshua Rehearsal Goes Wrong

Choosing Knyba was a major matchmaking mistake, although the thinking behind it was easy to spot. Hearn had a 6’7″ heavyweight placed in front of Ruiz, seemingly to prepare him for another lucrative fight with the 6’6″ Anthony Joshua. Beat the tall Polish fighter, prove Ruiz could still handle height and reach, and start selling a third Joshua fight.

Instead, Knyba demonstrated exactly why that plan was fantasy. If Ruiz could not close the distance against him, how was he supposed to reach Joshua without eating jabs and right hands all night? The opponent selected to prepare Ruiz for AJ ended up exposing why he no longer belongs anywhere near that fight.

Hearn had also discussed Filip Hrgovic and Moses Itauma as possible opponents. Those ideas now look reckless. Hrgovic offers the same size difficulty with far greater strength and punch output, while Itauma’s speed would be a nightmare for the version of Ruiz seen in Newark.

Ruiz once possessed some of the fastest hands in the heavyweight division. Those bursts mean little when his legs cannot carry him into punching range and his body no longer responds quickly enough to openings. Years of inactivity have collected their price, and no promoter can talk him back into the heavyweight elite.

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