Andy Ruiz down thirty pounds!
With just a little more than a month until fight night Andy “Destroyer” Ruiz Jr’s (33-1, 22 KO’s) coach Manny Robles feels his fighter is performing phenomenally in camp.
On December 7, Ruiz, who is the unified world heavyweight champion, will rematch Anthony “AJ” Joshua (22-1, 21 KO’s) in a highly anticipated prizefight to be staged in Saudi Arabia.
Prior to their June 1 showdown Ruiz was underrated by the majority of the boxing world. When looking at his chunky exterior few gave him a shot against the physically imposing Joshua. Once in the ring however, the Destroyer proved himself to be more than capable of handling the UK darling.
After dropping Joshua a whopping four times, Ruiz forced referee Michael Griffin to halt the action in the seventh round.
Despite his overtly dominant performance, once again, many of the fans and boxing insiders just can’t envision Ruiz winning again. Some call the first event a fluke, others think that AJ was simply not in the fight mentally while others are still overly fixated on the physiques of the two combatants.
Regardless of their individual rationales, Manny Robles, like Ruiz, remain unconcerned with the doubters.
If anything Team Ruiz invites and encourages these non-believers to continue on with their state of mind. Not only does it not phase them, the negative speech only serves as greater motivation for their preparation.
In fact, while they were not specifically aiming to trim any set amount of weight off of Ruiz, Robles is overly ecstatic about how many pounds his charge has shed as expressed in an interview with Behind the Gloves.
During this camp, which began in Mexico, the Destroyer has dropped nearly thirty pounds.
“Well, he lost about thirty pounds already, so we are on the right track, looking good, looking fit. He’s happy to be back home, he’s excited for this fight. The upcoming event of course and you know, we’re just excited all around.
“[…] He’s been dropping the weight naturally, gradually and I’m happy to say it’s all been based on hard work. You know, no sweat suits, no sweating creams, no nothing too, you know, difficult to do.
“Like I said, it’s all been hard work and you know just being in the gym and grinding every day.”
“He’s excited, he’s confident but he’s not overly confident. That’s why we put in the work. You talk to a man that’s overconfident he doesn’t work because he feels like ‘I got this, it’s in the bag.’ No!
“We understand that this is going to be a difficult fight just like the first fight. The first fight wasn’t easy, it looked easy, might be some people might think it was easy but it’s not man.
“[…] we got to keep grinding, we got to keep training, we got to keep working hard, we got to take this fight very, very seriously and we have.”
With the weight loss, Robles feels as though Ruiz will have be much faster, sharper and able to sustain his attacks with greater ferocity. For this reason the whole team is buzzing with excitement.
Although it should be said that Team Ruiz, nor Ruiz himself, is getting ahead of themselves. Rather than arrogance, or naked bravado, Ruiz has simply taken on an air of supreme confidence.
Naturally, Robles is pleased that his fighters mind is nestled down in such a positive and beneficial headspace. Only time will tell how the rematch plays out, but thankfully we don’t have too much longer to wait!
3kingsboxing will continue to report on this swiftly approaching mega-fight.
By: Bakari Simpson
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