Andy Ruiz Jr. fought back three knockouts to close in on Luis Ortiz tonight, claiming his second straight win after losing in the 2019 rematch to Anthony Joshua.
Ruiz won 113-112, 114-111, 114-111. He took three points from Ortiz for knockouts, meaning two judges had it even in the rounds, 6-6, and one judge won Ortiz seven to Ruiz’s five rounds. Bad Left Hook also scored 113-112 for Ruiz on our unofficial card.
It was a fight with bursts, especially in the second round, where Ruiz scored two knockouts. It should be noted that the second was a questionable referee call from referee Thomas Taylor, and had it not counted, Ruiz would have won, but by split decision, and the two cards would have been his way by one point. . Maybe we’ll talk a little more about the controversy in this case.
But the 43-year-old Ortiz (33-3, 28 KO) didn’t really put an imprint on this fight either. Most of the rides seem to go in whatever direction Andy Ruiz has approached. if relax very A lot, they were easy to score for Ortiz, whose hits arguably carried rounds where, frankly, there wasn’t much going on at all. And it wasn’t hard to find six or seven of these for the Cuban.
Ruiz (35-2, 22 KO) was facing a southern paw for the first time as a pro, and that certainly showed, including the former title holder who would normally spin the “wrong” way, in Ortiz’s powerful hand. It never completely hurt him, though, because Ortiz didn’t have the legs anymore to catch opponents by surprise other than timing their arrival, and Ruiz was able to take advantage of that, also using his speed and the speed of his hand to sting. Often, Ortiz couldn’t do much because he’s slow now.
It wasn’t the all-star performance you wanted to see from Ruiz, but a lot of it was pretty smart, and it got the job done. He wouldn’t face many fighters like Ortiz, and he knew Ortiz was dangerous because of his strength and timing as well, if he gave him plenty of chances. We saw it almost late in the second round, when Ortiz bumped him, and Ruiz clearly felt it. The fight has never been the same from there, other than a good run-up in the seventh round when Ruiz brought down Ortiz for the third time.
“I thought I did a nice job boxing for him,” Ruiz said. “It was very difficult, but the ability I had, my counter strikes and communication and dropping, was a blessing.”
Ruiz said he wanted to get more active. “I don’t want to wait long to fight. I want to fight at least three or four times again. I’m ready, man, I’m hungry, I want to be a champion again.”
Deontay Wilder, who returned on October 15 against Robert Helenius and took about 20 percent of his total broadcast allotment that evening, was in attendance, and Ruiz said he would welcome that as an upcoming fight as well: “He and I are in the same organization, Hemon can make This fight is happening. Let’s do it, let’s go on.”
“Anyone who said ‘King Kong’ is old, I signed up today. I felt like I had a big fight tonight,” Ortiz said via an interpreter, adding that he would like a rematch. “Do you think I’m done?” I saw a war here tonight. Do people think ‘King Kong’ is over? “
Highlights Ruiz vs. Ortiz
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