BoxRec

Two pretty horrendous scorecards 114-113 for Knyba. He won far wider than that.

Hearns just signed Ruiz and said he is a massive threat to the division. He isn't, he's virtually shot

Took an absolute shellacking and dropped heavy in the 7th and was almost stopped. 100% would have been stopped in a British ring, unless it was the A side of course. Even for a U.S ref it suprised me he let that go on (and also gave him far too much time)

Ruiz fought back well, showing the ref made a decent call to let it continue (the long count ans chat was bullshit though), but Ruiz is done at top level

he was pretty much done after Joshua rematch

forcefraser wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 06:04 Two pretty horrendous scorecards 114-113 for Knyba. He won far wider than that.

Hearns just signed Ruiz and said he is a massive threat to the division. He isn't, he's virtually shot

Took an absolute shellacking and dropped heavy in the 7th and was almost stopped. 100% would have been stopped in a British ring, unless it was the A side of course. Even for a U.S ref it suprised me he let that go on (and also gave him far too much time)

Ruiz fought back well, showing the ref made a decent call to let it continue (the long count ans chat was bullshit though), but Ruiz is done at top level

it looked to me like the ref was leaning in to stop the bout as Ruiz was stood defenceless but Knyba got in another shot and knocked him down so he counted instead.
But yeah Ruiz was awful throughout - he looked bizarre before the contest even began with swelling under his eye and during the contest offered virtually nothing.

A perfect example of not living the life and all catching up with him.

The AJ 1 result looks even worse on AJ now and I never thought that was possible. Not only was Ruiz a late sub, he's done nothing in the last 7 years to suggest he was any good in the first place. And he beat the sh@t out of Femi.

He was always just a fat heavyweight who lacked discipline. He struck the jackpot against AJ due to how bad AJ is. Ruiz was on his way to getting stopped there in three rounds. I remember the Sergey Liakhovic fight where I thought he was fortunate to get the win. Knyba got destroyed by Kabayel pretty easily.

You can get by on youth and talent only for so long. He's old, fat and shot, and squandered his peak money making years.

Welcome to trial horse status, Andy.

Riddick Bowie wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 08:04 You can get by on youth and talent only for so long. He's old, fat and shot, and squandered his peak money making years.

Welcome to trial horse status, Andy.

About right

I didn't see it as being entirely his fault.

After Joshua II, an obvious fight to make was Ruiz v Ortiz. But everyone's careers at the PBC were seemingly put on hold in support of Wilder's facade

After Fury v Wilder III, the jig was up, so Ruiz beating Ortiz couldn't do much damage to Wilder's mystique that Fury had already dismantled. But notably they still wouldn't match Ruiz with Wilder. If I remember correctly, Wilder and Ruiz were due to face in a final eliminator - the story as team Wilder told it was Ruiz was asking for too much. The trouble with that is, there was an obvious solution. Yet, inexplicably the WBC (who spent half a decade protecting Wilder) never called purse bids...

Now a big part of how Ruiz career turned out is entirely his fault, but its crazy how the PBC made little effort to get him fights when he was still popular even in defeat

He's an overachiever in my opinion and it's between him and Spinks when you name the worst heavyweight to dethrone a reigning champion. Fluke win vs AJ because he landed something while being finished in round 3 and other than that his best wins came vs an ancient Ortiz who won more rounds than Ruiz (Ruiz solely won on knockdowns) and Arreola, who was beyond shot and still gave Ruiz a fight, hurt him and dropped him. Then there's the close loss to Parker, but not one meaningful win. Gift draw vs Miller and now the loss to Knyba.

The thing is Ruiz still won those fights against Arreola and Ortiz.

Take the Ortiz fight for example, Ruiz clearly took his foot off the gas as he had the fight won by the halfway mark. Fair play to the effort Ortiz put in, but he had already lost with his only chance being to stop Ruiz...he couldn't and so he lost. The cards were irrelevant. We should remember Oldtiz still won near every round against Wilder, yet Wilder v Ortiz 2 is considered Wilder's best win. So Ruiz's performance can't have been that bad really in comparison.

mickey1975 wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 07:01 The AJ 1 result looks even worse on AJ now and I never thought that was possible. Not only was Ruiz a late sub, he's done nothing in the last 7 years to suggest he was any good in the first place. And he beat the sh@t out of Femi.

You're a little bit obsessed with AJ.

keithmoonhangover wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 09:31

mickey1975 wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 07:01 The AJ 1 result looks even worse on AJ now and I never thought that was possible. Not only was Ruiz a late sub, he's done nothing in the last 7 years to suggest he was any good in the first place. And he beat the sh@t out of Femi.

You're a little bit obsessed with AJ.

TBF, the result doesn't look worse. It was 7 years ago.. AND it was avenged,

keithmoonhangover wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 09:31

mickey1975 wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 07:01 The AJ 1 result looks even worse on AJ now and I never thought that was possible. Not only was Ruiz a late sub, he's done nothing in the last 7 years to suggest he was any good in the first place. And he beat the sh@t out of Femi.

You're a little bit obsessed with AJ.

You're a little bit obsessed with me.

mickey1975 wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 09:55

keithmoonhangover wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 09:31

mickey1975 wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 07:01 The AJ 1 result looks even worse on AJ now and I never thought that was possible. Not only was Ruiz a late sub, he's done nothing in the last 7 years to suggest he was any good in the first place. And he beat the sh@t out of Femi.

You're a little bit obsessed with AJ.

You're a little bit obsessed with me.

You're a handsome bastard, how could I not be.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 09:55

keithmoonhangover wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 09:31

mickey1975 wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 07:01 The AJ 1 result looks even worse on AJ now and I never thought that was possible. Not only was Ruiz a late sub, he's done nothing in the last 7 years to suggest he was any good in the first place. And he beat the sh@t out of Femi.

You're a little bit obsessed with AJ.

TBF, the result doesn't look worse. It was 7 years ago.. AND it was avenged,

Well... avenged is a strong word. Ruiz was morbidly obese (BMI) for the second fight. No fault of Joshua, but there is only so much credit to be gained from out boxing a guy who could only waddle after him and was borderline needing a medical intervention

Agree with the first part though. This fight has no bearing on the one 7 years ago. Except that Joshua II gave Knyba a blueprint to follow

Andy was pretty damn good - lot of talent even if he never put the work in on top.
He had fast hands, dog and could really box. I thought he beat Parker.

I think he massively underacheived his talent with his abysmal attitude, which is a shame 'cos it's totally gone now. He even looked in decent shape, but.. it's all gone now. .

skanksta wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 13:36 Andy was pretty damn good - lot of talent even if he never put the work in on top.
He had fast hands, dog and could really box. I thought he beat Parker.

I think he massively underacheived his talent with his abysmal attitude, which is a shame 'cos it's totally gone now. He even looked in decent shape, but.. it's all gone now. .

Agreed i think the Ruiz of old was a pretty decent boxer who had terrible discipline, he got further on skill, than he should of done, it was lack of dedication to boxing that made him look bad .. Fast forward 6-7 years , lack of dedication living the good life , has took its toll on his skill set has well , and lets have it right , he's not come back because God hit him with a bolt of lightning , and a revelation he should come back and rule ,, he's back for the money , and getting on the road , running a few mile , to lose weight if he even done that is not gonna bring back the skills ,

The only reason he's got this chance is because Hearn is desperate for a heavyweight ,

paultom wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 06:40 he was pretty much done after Joshua rematch

Yeah he turned into buster Douglas against holyfield in the AJ rematch.

I watched it this morning those cards were awful he was jabbed all night, dropped heavily and lost wide. He’s done.

Glass Joe wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 14:19

paultom wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 06:40 he was pretty much done after Joshua rematch

Yeah he turned into buster Douglas against holyfield in the AJ rematch.

At least Holy put him out of his misery.

SeanBrennan wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 14:45 I watched it this morning those cards were awful he was jabbed all night, dropped heavily and lost wide. He’s done.

That knockdown was brutal. Kudos for getting up from that and fighting on.

He's done though. Shame, wasted his talent

Trouble is with Ruiz he got that big payday from AJ and from that point his motivation for boxing went

Oiky wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 15:12 Trouble is with Ruiz he got that big payday from AJ and from that point his motivation for boxing went

100 percent

Oiky wrote: ↑05 Sep 2026, 15:12 Trouble is with Ruiz he got that big payday from AJ and from that point his motivation for boxing went

Problem was he never really had much motivation. He turned pro at about 300 pounds