Andy Ruiz Wins The Anthony Joshua Sweepstakes (Although Not Official)

It appears that the merry-go-round is finally over. Various sources are reporting that Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has settled on Andy Ruiz as Joshua’s next opponent and that a deal has been reached. Joshua vs. Ruiz will play out on June 1 at Madison Square Garden.

Joshua’s original opponent was Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller. When Miller was scratched as a result of a failed drug test, it opened a floodgate of speculation. Seemingly every heavyweight with a pulse was touted as Miller’s likely replacement.

In a previous story, this reporter made Michael Hunter the favorite to cop the coveted berth. Hunter made a lot of sense because he was already in the fold, having signed with Matchroom Sport, Hearn’s company, shortly before it became known that Big Baby Miller had come up dirty. True, he wouldn’t have been a popular pick, but nowadays signability almost always trumps other considerations.

British bookmakers, as is their custom, posted a “future book” on Joshua’s next opponent. Michael Hunter assumed the role of the favorite until the last few days of betting when he was supplanted at the top of the leaderboard by Ruiz, a rank outsider before April 20 when he turned heads with a strong performance against Alexander Dimitrenko. (The fact the bookies took the proposition off the board suggests that they feared being swamped by smart Ruiz money.)

Fighting on the undercard of a PBC event in Carson, California, Ruiz (that’s him on the left) thrashed the Germany-based Russian whose corner pulled him out after five one-sided rounds. Of great import, Ruiz emerged from the fight without a scratch.

Andy Ruiz

Andres Ponce “Andy” Ruiz Jr., the son of a construction worker, was born in the desert community of Imperial, California, which sits next to El Centro, the gateway to Mexicali, Mexico, where Ruiz had several of his early pro fights. During his formative years, he lived at various times on both sides of the border. According to author Jose Corpas, Ruiz’s grandfather once ran a boxing gym in Mexicali, the gym where former IBF/WBO world featherweight champion Jorge “Maromero” Paez got his start.

Early into his pro career Ruiz signed with Top Rank which had trouble moving him. That was largely Ruiz’s fault as he was notoriously lax in his training. But Top Rank did eventually maneuver him into a title fight. On Dec. 10, 2016, Ruiz met Joseph Parker on Parker’s turf in Auckland, New Zealand. At stake was the WBO world heavyweight title previously owned by Tyson Fury who had vacated the title to focus on addressing his lifestyle problems.

For this fight, Top Rank consigned Ruiz to Abel Sanchez’s compound in Big Bear, Calif. According to Sanchez, Ruiz lost 34 pounds during his five weeks there.

Striving to become the first Mexican to win a world heavyweight title, Ruiz fell a tad short, losing a majority decision. Two of the judges had Parker winning seven rounds to five and the other had it even. The decision was somewhat controversial. “Andy Ruiz got ripped off last night big time,” said Auckland native Lance Revill, a former pro boxer and the president of New Zealand’s Professional Boxing Association (the backlash forced Revill to resign).

That remains the only loss on Ruiz’s ledger. He will bring a 32-1 record (21 KOs) into his encounter with the undefeated Joshua who will be making his U.S. debut. Born one month apart, they are both 29 years old.

There was a time not too long ago when Ruiz would have been slighted as a fighter with strictly regional appeal. But the world has changed. The great in-migration from Mexico has overshadowed an even more startling demographic trend: the geographic diversification of this ethnic group with large populations of Mexicans now found in communities far from Mexico that housed only a handful of Mexicans just a few decades ago. There are now roughly 330,000 people who identify as Mexicans in the five boroughs of New York and Mexicans are the fastest growing ethnic group in the city.

When Canelo Alvarez fought Rocky Fielding at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 15 of last year, shouts of “Mexico, Mexico” followed Canelo as he walked from his dressing room to the ring. That event drew a sellout crowd of 20,113, notwithstanding a largely unknown opponent and a rather pedestrian undercard.

Based on early returns, Joshua vs. Big Baby Miller would have been a sellout. Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz will be a sellout too, of that there is little doubt.

As for handicapping the match, we will save that for a later article. Suffice it to say that Joshua will be a pronounced favorite — as well he should be — but that Ruiz is more athletic than one would gather from his Pillsbury Doughboy physique; he has fast hands and is light on his feet.

An interesting aspect of the Joshua-Ruiz match (which we assume that for all practical purposes is a done deal) is that it represents a truce, however temporary, between rival promoters Eddie Hearn and Al Haymon. Ruiz, who sat out all of 2017, reportedly because of contractual issues, followed the template set by Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Mikey Garcia and others, and purchased his freedom from Bob Arum’s organization. His match with Alexander Dimitrenko was his first under Haymon’s PBC banner.

If Hearn and Haymon and their media affiliates can put down their swords and work together for the common good, that can only benefit the sport.

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