By: Hans Themistode
Andy Ruiz Jr.’s moment in the sun came and quickly left.
Following his monumental upset win over Anthony Joshua in June of 2019, Ruiz Jr. wrapped his newly won heavyweight titles around his waist and began partying nonstop. When Ruiz Jr. wasn’t out enjoying the night life, he was making frequent trips to the jeweler and stopped going to gym as frequent as he should have. With the newly crowned champion scheduled to take on Joshua six months later, the Mexican product figured since he had already done it once, repeating what he did should be no problem at all.
Those sentiments, of course, didn’t prove to be true as Joshua boxed circles around him and ended his 15 minutes of fame. For the now former belt holder, he realized what he did wrong. In turn, he put down the bottles of booze, no longer made trips to the local clubs and according to trainer Eddy Reynoso, his newfound dedication has his training like a mad man.
“Andy is very motivated,” said Reynoso during an interview with Fight Hub TV. “He wants to be world champion again. He’s dropping weight and he’s been disciplined. We are gonna make a great team.”
Since the one-sided loss, Ruiz Jr. (33-2, 24 KOs) has sat back and watched as his new stablemates have gone on to pick up big wins.
Just a few weeks ago, Oscar Valdez upset the odds by not only defeating former WBC super featherweight belt holder Miguel Berchelt but flat out knocking him out cold. Canelo Alvarez has continued to win as he easily outboxed Callum Smith to win the WBA, WBC and Ring magazine super middleweight titles in December. Also, in just a few short hours, Alvarez will take on Avni Yildirim at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Florida. Virtually everyone expects Alvarez to pick up the win and maintain his pound-for-pound status.
As for Ruiz Jr., he simply wants to keep the winning train going. Although nothing is concrete, he will most likely return to the ring in a few months against fringe contender Chris Arreola.
Winning a world title is prevalent on his mind, but more than anything, Ruiz Jr. wants to prove that his success wasn’t a flash in the pan. While he already has all of the motivation in the world, Reynoso believes that with everyone surrounding him ascending, the fire burning in his belly is brighter than ever.
“He’s seeing the success everyone else is having and it’s gonna motivate him even more.”