44 Facts About Andy Ruiz

Andy Ruiz is a former unified heavyweight champion, having defeated Anthony Joshua to win the WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO titles in 2019 to become the first male boxer of Mexican heritage to win a world heavyweight championship.

Andy Ruiz had a passion for baseball before his father got him into boxing; he has noted that his first fight was at age seven in San Diego.

Andy Ruiz later worked for his father in construction for a time before deciding to become a full-time boxer and starting his amateur career in Mexico.

Andy Ruiz's grandfather owned a boxing gym in Mexicali that was used by featherweight champion Jorge Paez.

Andy Ruiz represented Mexico in two 2008 Beijing Olympic Games qualification tournaments, losing to eventual Olympians Robert Alfonso of Cuba and Oscar Rivas of Colombia in the first and second qualifiers.

Related searches

Andy Ruiz's parents were born in Mexico, making Andy Ruiz eligible to represent Mexico.

Andy Ruiz had Freddie Roach in his corner and at the Wild Card Gym and sparred with former UFC heavyweight champion, Andrei Arlovski.

Andy Ruiz mostly fought journeymen opposition earlier in his career but did knock out two amateur stars in 2006 US amateur champion Jonte Willis and 2008 Golden Gloves champion Tor Hamer.

Andy Ruiz fought again after three months at the same venue, this time knocking Ross Brantley down three times in round one, winning the bout via technical knockout.

Andy Ruiz took an eight-month gap before he returned to the ring in February 2010, winning a four-round unanimous decision against Juan Luis Lopez Alcaraz.

Andy Ruiz had his next three fights of 2010 in the US, defeating Miles Kelly via KO, Raymond Lopez via unanimous decision and Francisco Diaz via KO.

On March 23,2012, Andy Ruiz fought his first eight-round fight, outpointing Homero Fonseca.

Andy Ruiz floored Willis in round five from a short right hand before referee Wayne Hedgpeth stopped the bout in round eight, after a combination of unanswered punches.

On July 27,2013 Andy Ruiz traveled to Macau with Top Rank to fight at the Cotai Arena against undefeated 30 year old American Joe Hanks in a scheduled ten round fight.

Andy Ruiz dropped Hanks twice in round four with fast right hands, forcing the stoppage.

Andy Ruiz claimed the vacant WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight title with this win.

On December 20,2014 Andy Ruiz fought former WBO heavyweight champion, 38 year old Siarhei Liakhovich at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona.

Andy Ruiz was taken to the ten round distance for the first time in his career by Liakhovich, who trained hard for this fight and tried to win.

Andy Ruiz revealed he fractured his right hand during the second round.

In June 2015, Andy Ruiz began training with well-known trainer Abel Sanchez, whose most notable boxer was Gennady Golovkin.

On May 14,2016 Andy Ruiz fought 45 year old, former world title challenger Ray Austin at the Sportsman's Lodge in California.

Andy Ruiz made a successful fifth defence of his WBC-NABF title after ten one-sided rounds.

Andy Ruiz was ordered to fight Joseph Parker in New Zealand for the WBO heavyweight title with the fight set to take place on December 10,2016.

Andy Ruiz pointed out that the WBO rules stated the two best-classified contenders will challenge for the title.

Andy Ruiz failed to become the first heavyweight of Mexican ancestry to win a world title when Parker won the bout by a majority decision.

Related searches

Andy Ruiz started off well being the aggressor but slowed down during mid rounds, only to take control again during the championship rounds.

Andy Ruiz was next to make a ring return on February 3,2018 on the undercard of Gilberto Ramirez vs Habib Ahmed WBO super middleweight title fight at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Andy Ruiz landed a big right hand to the head of Vargas, dropping him.

Andy Ruiz showed good power and speed during the short fight.

Andy Ruiz's next fight was scheduled to take place on July 7,2018 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California against veteran journeyman Kevin Johnson.

The main goal for this bout was for Andy Ruiz to get in some much needed rounds, having only completed less than a round in over a year.

Andy Ruiz admitted it was good to go the distance and called out some of the better heavyweights, namely Jarrell Miller.

On January 11,2019, it was reported that Andy Ruiz had signed a deal with powerful advisor Al Haymon, and would now be part of the Premier Boxing Champions stable, with his fights being aired on Showtime and FOX.

Andy Ruiz was guaranteed a $200,000 purse, whilst Dimitrenko was guaranteed $75,000.

The bout nearly came to an end in round four when Andy Ruiz nearly knocked Dimitrenko down, however Dimitrenko managed to make it to the end of the round.

Andy Ruiz landed 68 punches overall, compared to Dimitrenko, who landed 21 punches.

Andy Ruiz became a frontrunner after it was reported Luis Ortiz's team had rejected two offers of career-high purses to fight Joshua.

Andy Ruiz rose to his feet, seemingly unfazed by Joshua's power, and quickly continued to attack.

Just before the end of round three, Andy Ruiz again managed to fell a disoriented Joshua after forcing him into a corner and unleashing a series of power punches.

In round seven, Andy Ruiz knocked Joshua down with a short sequence of heavy blows.

In September 2019 it was announced that Andy Ruiz would defend his titles against Joshua in a rematch.

Andy Ruiz started off well, landing a sharp right hand in the first round that cut Ruiz to the side of his left eye.

Andy Ruiz had some success when he tagged Joshua to the head and body at the end of the fourth round, but Joshua remained firmly in control of the action.

Sixteen months after defeating Chris Arreola, Andy Ruiz returned to the ring on September 4,2022 in Los Angeles to face former WBA interim heavyweight champion Luis Ortiz in an eliminator for the WBC title.