After 2-year layoff, Andy Ruiz is back to fight friend Jarrell Miller
Former unified heavyweight titlist wants back into title picture but first needs to win on Crawford-Madrimov undercard Saturday; full PPV info
A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.
Andy Ruiz Jr. is no stranger to layoffs, but after 23 months out of action he is back, and the former unified heavyweight titleholder hopes to impressively reassert himself into boxing’s glamour division.
A slew of notable heavyweight bouts have taken place since Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, began heavily investing in it last year as a way to promote its annual Riyadh Season festival. Ruiz’s upcoming fight falls into that category.
He will fight Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, a friend of his, on the first Riyadh Season-backed card outside of Riyadh, which is headlined by pound-for-pound star Terence Crawford’s move up to junior middleweight to challenge Israil Madrimov for his WBA junior middleweight title and the vacant WBO interim belt. The loaded card will take place on Saturday (DAZN PPV, PPV.com, ESPN+ PPV, Prime Video PPV, 6 p.m. ET, $79.99) at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, where Ruiz will be the crowd favorite.
“I’m just super excited to get back in action,” Ruiz told Fight Freaks Unite. “I’m going to be fighting ‘Big Baby’ Miller, and it’s going to be a really exciting fight. We both come to fight, both have the same mission. We both want to become champions and in my eyes, he’s just the person trying to take the Cheerios away from my kids, the food from the table away from my kids. That’s the motivation that I have and I’m just ready to get back in action.”
It has been awhile. Since Ruiz lost his three world title belts by one-sided decision in an immediate rematch with Anthony Joshua in December 2019 in Saudi Arabia, Ruiz has boxed just twice. He ended a 17-month layoff by outpointing former title challenger Chris Arreola in May 2021 and then a 16-month layoff followed before he outpointed former title challenger Luis Ortiz in September 2022.
The following month, former titlist Deontay Wilder knocked out Robert Helenius in the first round and he and Ruiz, both with Premier Boxing Champions at the time, were in talks for a WBC title eliminator. But the fight was never finalized and Ruiz went into the long layoff.
So where’s Ruiz been for nearly two years?
I will be in Los Angeles covering the Crawford-Madrimov card this week. Please upgrade to a paid subscription and make sure you don’t miss any coverage. You’ll have full access to the rest of this post and all posts, the full archive, you can make and read comments — and you will help support independent journalism.