Notebook: Ruiz in shape for Arreola: 'I killed the old Andy and a new Andy was born'

Edwards upsets Mthalane for flyweight title; Conlan prevails

There was the Andy Ruiz Jr. who took the world by storm as a late replacement in June 2019.

That was when Ruiz survived a third-round knockdown and came back to drop Anthony Joshua four times and stop him in the seventh round to take his unified heavyweight world title in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history in front of a pro-Joshua crowd at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

And then there was the Andy Ruiz Jr. who spent much of the next six months partying, spending the millions he had earned, eating and not training for the immediate rematch Joshua invoked, as was his contractual right.

They met again in December 2019 and when Ruiz showed up in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, he was a whopping 283½ pounds — 15½ more than he was for the first fight — way out of shape and seemingly disinterested in the fight. Joshua took him to school and won a lopsided decision to regain the belts.

Ruiz dropped out of site, embarrassed by his performance. Now, 17 months later, Ruiz, who had become the first fighter of Mexican decent to win a heavyweight title, is ready to get back in the ring after throwing away a cadre of belts by coming wholly unprepared against Joshua.

In the wake of the loss, Ruiz split from trainer Manny Robles and eventually joined Eddy Reynoso’s stable, which includes pound-for-pound king Canelo Alvarez. Ruiz, giving credit to Reynoso, has gotten into excellent condition as he heads into his comeback fight.

Ruiz will meet fellow Mexican-American and three-time heavyweight world title challenger Chris Arreola in a WBA elimination fight in the main event of a Mexican-themed Premier Boxing Champions Fox pay-per-view card to kick off Cinco de Mayo week on Saturday (9 p.m. ET, $49.99) at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. It’s the first fight card in California fans are allowed to attend, albeit a limited number, since the coronavirus pandemic began.

“I have a lot to prove,” Ruiz said. “I let a lot of people down, and that’s why I had to make big changes to myself. I know what I’m capable of doing and I know what I can accomplish. I have it inside of me to become the (first) Mexican two-time heavyweight champion of the world.”

Most expect an exciting fight between Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs), 31, of Imperial, California, and Arreola (38-6-1, 33 KOs), 40, of Riverside, California, who both appeared in good condition at Friday’s weigh-in. Ruiz was a slimmed down 256 pounds and Arreola, who has had his own conditioning issues, was career-light 228.5 pounds.

“Eddy made a really big difference for me,” Ruiz said. “He’s helped my motivation and confidence. Without that discipline, I don’t think I would have been in this shape.”

Ruiz dropped more than 50 pounds during his months of training for the fight alongside Alvarez.

“I was at 310 pounds when I started this camp,” Ruiz said. “We started losing weight slowly but surely. People are wondering if I’m still going to have the same power after losing weight, but I’ve been working hard for this moment and the power is definitely staying with me.”

Reynoso, who has emerged as one of boxing’s best trainer with a stable that also includes junior lightweight world titlist Oscar Valdez and interim lightweight titleholder Ryan Garcia, said he was very pleased with the effort Ruiz gave him during their first training camp together.

“Andy Ruiz has given so much time and has been so dedicated to his work inside the gym,” Reynoso said. “He is motivated and learning a lot every day. We know that on (Saturday) we’re going to be dealing with an aggressive fighter who is going to bring his best.

“Andy is excited about the challenge that Arreola presents. (Saturday) is going to be the second beginning of Andy’s career. This is the start of his pursuit to become champion again. We respect Arreola, but we’re going to go in there to get the job done.”

Alvarez, the unified super middleweight champion, trained alongside Ruiz in San Diego because he is getting ready for a three-belt unification fight with Billy Joe Saunders on May 8 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Alvarez welcomed Ruiz to his gym when he decided to start training again.

“Andy reached out to me after the loss to Joshua,” Alvarez said. “I consulted with Eddy Reynoso, and we agreed to help him, but we told him that the one thing we required was discipline. Andy has demonstrated a lot of that. Andy has done absolutely everything that Eddy has asked of him, from improving his defense to his head and waist movement, and he’s got very quick hands and punches with power.

“It’s great that Andy became the first heavyweight champion of Mexican descent, but now it’s important to return to the top of the division. So, this is a significant fight. With Andy facing Chris Arreola, this is the first time that two, high quality Mexican heavyweights are going at it. Arreola will bring aggression, but I expect a very quick knockout victory from Andy.”

Ruiz, who lost a razor-close majority decision to Joseph Parker in a shot at a vacant world title on Parker’s turf in New Zealand in 2016, has always been known for having fast hands to go with his power. He said he continued to work on that facet of his game and more with Reynoso.

“I believe I have the fastest hands at heavyweight. I’m not where I want to be at right now, but I’m a lot better than where I was,” Ruiz said. “I have so much to prove starting Saturday night.

“The lack of discipline that I had before training with Eddy Reynoso has been the biggest difference heading into this fight. You can’t play boxing. You have to stay ready always. That’s one of the main things that I’ve focused on, in addition to perfecting every movement I make in the ring.

“The game plan is always to be victorious. We have little strategies and combinations that we’re perfecting. I’m making sure I’m throwing punches the right way. I appreciated every trainer that I’ve had, and I learned something from all of them, but I feel like being in camp with Eddy was the best move for me. Right now I’m motivated. I killed the old Andy and a new Andy was born.”

Edwards upsets Mthalane

England’s Sunny Edwards impressively outboxed Moruti Mthalane to win a unanimous decision and the IBF flyweight world title on Friday at York Hall in London in the main event of a Queensberry Promotions card.

Edwards won 120-108, 118-111 and 115-113, scores that were all over the place but with the appropriate winner, as he handed Mthalane (39-3, 26 KOs) his first loss since then-flyweight titlist Nonito Donaire stopped him in a 2008 title bout in Las Vegas.

Edwards (16-0, 4 KOs), 25, had fought his last two bouts at junior bantamweight but he returned to flyweight for the title shot he has wanted against South Africa’s Mthalane (39-3, 26 KOs), 38, a friend of his for the past several years.

Mthalane was making the fourth defense of his second title reign but could not deal with Edwards’ quickness and movement. He stalked Edwards throughout the fight but rarely could land his punches cleanly.

In the co-feature, Michael Conlan (15-0, 8 KOs), 29, of Northern Ireland, moved down from featherweight to junior featherweight and won a majority decision in a very tough fight against Ionut Baluta (14-3, 3 KOs), 27, of Romania. One judge scored the fight 114-114 but the other two had it for Conlan, 117-112 and 115-114.

Conlan is the WBO’s top contender at 122 pounds and likely will get a title shot in his next couple of fights.

“Baluta is a tough character, tougher than I thought,” Conlan said. “He’s as game as they come. But he was missing tons of punches, so I wasn’t really worried. But when (the first scorecard read) was a draw, I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’ It was a good fight, good preparation for what’s to come. I’ll stay active. I’ll fight in August anyway, and I’ll get straight back in the gym.”

Quick hits

Weights from Carson, Calif., for Saturday night’s PBC Fox PPV: Andy Ruiz Jr. 256 pounds, Chris Arreola 228.5 (WBA heavyweight title eliminator); Omar Figueroa Jr. 146.5, Abel Ramos 146.5; Sebastian Fundora 152.75, Jorge Cota 153.5; Jesus Ramos 150, Javier Molina 149.25; Erislandy Lara 159.4, Thomas LaManna 159 (for vacant WBA secondary middleweight title);  Eduardo Ramirez 125.4, Isaac Avelar 125 (for vacant WBA interim featherweight title); Adrian Granados 146.6, Jose Luis Sanchez 146.2; Carlos Negron 235.8, Scott Alexander 235; Fernando Molina 133.6, Prisco Marquez 135; Anthony Garnica 125.2, Jesse Bazzi 126.4.

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Weights from Manchester, England for Saturday’s Matchroom Boxing card (DAZN in U.S., Sky Box Office in U.K.): Joseph Parker 241.2 pounds. Derek Chisora 250.5; Katie Taylor 134.5, Natasha Jonas 134.4 (for Taylor’s undisputed women’s lightweight title); Dmitry Bivol 174.1, Craig Richards 174.1 (for Bivol’s light heavyweight title); Chris Eubank Jr. 161.7, Marcus Morrison 161.5; Campbell Hatton 135.6, Levi Dunn 134.3; Johnny Fisher 245.25, Phil Williams 268; James Tennyson 134.4, Jovanni Straffon 133.1; Scott Fitzgerald 169.25, Gregory Trenel 166.1.

Show and tell

The fight between Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley was huge. It was a fight many wanted to see about a decade earlier when Mosley was the lightweight king and Mayweather held the same position at junior lightweight. They finally met at welterweight — Mosley’s title was not at stake because Mayweather didn’t want to pay the sanctioning fees to the wretched WBA — in a fight I covered on May 1, 2010, 11 years ago on Saturday. Mosley hurt Mayweather badly in the second round, probably the most hurt Mayweather ever was in a fight, but he rebounded and rolled to a one-sided decision. In the build up to the fight, Golden Boy Promotions mounted a three-city media tour to hype it up and even opened all three events to the public, bringing even more excitement and attention to it. The tour opened on March 2 at Nokia Theater in New York’s Times Square, moved on to the Lincoln Theater in Washington, D.C., on March 3 and concluded March 4 at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles.

I live in the Washington suburbs and covered that tour stop. This isn’t a piece of memorabilia, rather here is a candid photo somebody (I have no recollection of who) took of me interviewing Mosley that day in the Lincoln Theater basement before the formal program began.

Ruiz-Arreola photo: Frank Micelotta/Fox Sports; Edwards-Mthalane photo: Queensberry Promotions