Ex Heavyweight Champion Andy Ruiz Jr. Embarrassed!!!

Trainer Manny Robles is still pretty upset at former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. for him slacking off and not putting a full effort into his December 7 rematch against Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia. Robles reveals that he was embarrassed at the condition that Ruiz Jr. (33-2, 22 KOs) showed up for at the weigh-in the day before the fight. 

Ruiz weighed in at 283 pounds and was far off from the 268 pounds that he weighed in the first fight against AJ in June of 2019. Even that weight wasn’t ideal, but infinitely better than the 283lbs that Ruiz Jr. came in for the second match against Joshua.

With Ruiz being severely out of shape, Joshua took advantage of it by winning a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision in their rematch in Saudi. Ruiz Jr. then subsequently cut Robles loose as his trainer and signed on with Eddy Reynoso, the guy that trains Canelo Alvarez. 

Reynoso is going through a hot phase in his career as a trainer, thanks to Canelo. Like a lot of trainers, Reynoso may cool down once Canelo is shot or retired. Switching trainers could be a pointless endeavor if Ruiz Jr. doesn’t have the discipline to show up to his training sessions daily. 

“It was nothing like the first camp,” said Manny Robles to Boxing Social on Ruiz’s training camp for his rematch with Joshua. “What helped us a lot in the first fight [against Joshua] was coming off of the Dimtrenko fight. So he had no time off.

“He had a week off. When we beat Joshua, he had three months off. I didn’t see him. I’m not his babysitter, and I’m not his dad. I don’t deal with the guy, and I didn’t see him. And I was in my gym working with my boxers as I usually am.

“I didn’t see him until he showed up at the gym, and we started going again. But he wasn’t in good shape, and he wasn’t in the right place. I think with him winning the belts and beating Joshua, it was very overwhelming for him, and he didn’t know how to handle it.

“It was too much to handle. I also take responsibility. When a fighter loses, we all lose as a team, and we have to hold ourselves accountable. It was unfortunate, but it wasn’t a perfect camp, and he wasn’t 100%. It showed on the scales on the day of the weigh-in, and it showed in the fight,” said Robles about Andy Jr. 

Going from rags to riches would be hard for anyone, but it was too much for Ruiz to deal with going into the rematch with AJ.

It’s an understatement what Roblems says about it not being the perfect camp for Andy going into the second fight with Joshua. For Ruiz to slack off like that, he had to have believed that he would still be able to pull out the victory. After all, it had been so easy the first time he fought Joshua, so it’s entirely shocking that Ruiz didn’t train hard.