Andy Ruiz Jr knows. Knows people sneer that he got lucky in June when his left fist clattered into Anthony Joshua’s temple like a wrecking ball, discombobulating not only his opponent but the millions watching. Knows that many in the trade believe he has got lazy since becoming the first Mexican to win a world heavyweight title. Knows, too, that most expect his Cinderella reign to end as abruptly as Buster Douglas’s did after he shocked Mike Tyson.
But as Ruiz begins training camp for his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight rematch against Joshua in Saudi Arabia on 7 December, he insists he is even hungrier now. “I’m still a nice guy,” he says. “I still respect Anthony Joshua. I’m still a fan of what he has done in boxing. But inside the ring, as I’ve told him, there’s no friends, there’s no respect, it’s just me and you, trying to rip each other’s face off. In my eyes, when I’m in the ring I feel he’s there trying to take my kids’ Cheerios, their fruit juice. That’s what gives me the extra motivation.”
Since becoming heavyweight champion, Ruiz has bought himself a new house, a Rolls Royce and plenty of chunky and expensive jewellery. “But this is all material stuff,” he insists. “Yes, it’s stuff I always wanted. But what I really want is a legacy, not just 15 minutes of fame. The main thing is that I remain humble, stay disciplined, stay training and continue to be champion.”
The best thing, he insists, about his new life is that he no longer has to “struggle to pay my bills, the land bills, water bills, electricity, stuff like that” – although meeting the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López, after stopping Joshua in the seventh round was also special. “It meant a lot,” he says. “People asked me if I wanted to go and visit the White House but I said I wanted to visit the Mexican White House. It was a beautiful experience.”
When asked whether he is likely to get invited to visit President Trump he shakes his head. “No, I don’t think so,” he says, before talking about what his victory meant to Mexican-Americans amid the backdrop of deportations and a wall going up on the border. “Some of them have come and thanked me,” he says. “They have my full support. The main thing for me is to keep representing Mexico, my people.”
Ruiz has watched the replay of his fight with Joshua dozens of times, not just to revel in fresh glories but to analyse his mistakes to become a better fighter for the rematch. “A lot of people have been saying it was a lucky shot,” he says. “Anthony said it was a ‘shot from the gods’ and I agree – it was a shot of the gods because I have been praying and wishing for that opportunity for a long time. I was controlling the whole fight. But there were some things I could’ve done a lot better.”
It helps, too, that Ruiz has tasted Joshua’s best punches and was able to rise, clear-eyed, after being floored in the third. “That was my first time getting dropped but I got up,” he says. “It didn’t really hurt. It should be scary for him to know that. I’m a warrior, I take shots, I give shots back. He’s going to be prepared, I’m going to be prepared. As long as we stay disciplined we’re going to have the same result.”
His trainer, Manny Robles, believes the key moment of the fight came in the sixth when a series of thunderous body shots took the wind out of Joshua. “When the round ended I saw Anthony Joshua walk back to his corner and I told Andy: ‘That’s it. He’s done. He’s done,’” he says. “He’d never been hit to the body the way he got hit to the body with Andy.”
Ruiz, meanwhile, vividly remembers the flurry of punches which sent Joshua to the canvas for a final time. “The funny thing is that in the seventh round all I could hear was my trainer screaming and my dad screaming: ‘Do it for your kids!’ he says, laughing. “And I was like: ‘Shut up! Calm down, I’m doing it for the Cheerios!’”
