Andy Ruiz Jr. Will Weigh In Under 256lbs For Arreola Fight
It seems Andy Ruiz learnt his lesson from the 2nd Joshua fight.
The Mexican American heavyweight shocked the world in 2019 when he TKO’d Anthony Joshua, despite being a heavy betting underdog.
Unfortunately, when the subsequent rematch came about, Ruiz’s body had clearly taken a toll from the relentless partying that would naturally have come following the win over a fighter like Joshua. Ruiz looked out of shape, and was unable to keep up with Joshua for much of the fight.
However, he is now set to face Chris Arreola on May 1. This time, Ruiz will not be cutting any corners when it comes to fight preparation. He recently stated the following:
“After my last defeat against Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia, I gained [weight to] almost 310 pounds,” said Ruiz. “We’ve been working, slowly but surely. We want to be at 250 to 255 pounds [for the Arreola fight]. We don’t want to go crazy losing weight. Right now we’re trying to make the fat into muscle. Just working hard. The discipline is there. We just need to stay focused. I’m not looking past Chris Arreola. He’s a tough fighter. He’s a warrior. He takes a lot of punches. He’s strong. We just have to stick to the game plan” (via Boxing Scene).
Ruiz is now training under Eddy Reynoso, who has been a key component in the weight decrease for Ruiz this time around. He also has the current p4p number 1, ‘Canelo’ Alvarez as a training partner, who’s champion mentality appears to be rubbing off on Ruiz. He also stated the following:
“Losing my last fight was devastating. I didn’t do the things that I was supposed to do. That was the most important fight of my career. I had been waiting to become champion my whole life and I started doing things I never thought I would be able to do. I don’t want to make those same mistakes again, and that’s a big part of what’s motivating me.”
“Now that I’ve been dropping weight the right way, I feel amazing. I feel like I can do a lot more things that I couldn’t do before because of my body. The sky’s the limit for me.
“I still have a grudge inside of me about the second Anthony Joshua fight, because I don’t want to go down that path again. I just want to stay disciplined for this fight and all of the big fights coming up in my future.”
Andy Ruiz Jr. will face off against Chris Arreola on May 1. The venue is currently set to be the Dignity Health Sports Park , Carson.
