It has now been over five years since Andy Ruiz Jr found himself sitting at the very top of the heavyweight division.
The Mexican-American was presented with the chance of a lifetime in June 2019 when he was selected as the replacement to face Anthony Joshua after Jarrell Miller failed drug tests and was pulled from the card.
Ruiz was very much the underdog going into the fight but upset the odds in explosive fashion. After being knocked down early himself, he rose from the canvas to knock Joshua down several times before securing an unlikely but impressive stoppage victory.
However, he partied as hard for the next six months as he fought in those first seven rounds and went into the December rematch out of shape. As such Joshua won the majority of the 12 rounds and took back his WBA, WBO and IBF world titles on the scorecards.
Since then ‘The Destroyer’ has fought just twice, taking two unanimous decision points wins over Chris Arreola and Luis Ortiz, but is next out on August 3 when he takes on Jarrell Miller in a must-win clash at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Speaking to ESNEWS he revealed his desire to rematch Joseph Parker, who he lost to in a WBO contest back in 2016, as a way back to the top.
“God willing we get Miller out of the way. There are so many fighters out there but I definitely want to fight Joseph Parker and get the rematch with him. I know I can be better over there in New Zealand in his hometown and God willing I get the opportunity. There are so many right now that can bring you up in rankings.”
Parker is coming off the back of two career-best victories against Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang.
