“We started doing things I had never done before, and it was really, really hard,” Ruiz says. Go back to Ruiz’s Instagram posts and you’ll see him throwing rapid-fire left hooks with a resistance band coiled around his body, tossing a heavy med ball against the wall with jumping footwork drills between reps, completing three-minute rounds of 300 punches in a swimming pool and doing barbell supersets. Reynoso also immediately put Ruiz on a weight-training program, the first of his career. “With heavyweights, you have to be more gradual.” But from the get-go, Reynoso was focused on helping Ruiz shed those extra pounds, which he says were “pure fat.” They got his diet under control, convincing Ruiz that his beloved barbecue ribs and chilaquiles with beans, eggs and bacon were to be treats rather than habits, and turned him on to salmon, brown rice and veggies. “You can be more intense with middleweights,” he explains. Reynoso says there is one key difference between training middleweights and training heavyweights. trains with Eddy Reynoso on Apin San Diego. A similar post appears on the Instagram of super middleweight champion and fellow Mexican Canelo Alvarez, who is widely viewed as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. IN A LATE March Instagram post, Ruiz is slipping and dodging a swinging teardrop heavy bag, with his newly developed teardrop quads peeking out from underneath the bottom hem of his shorts. Until that day in the spring of 2020, when Ruiz finally decided he’d had enough. “I had lost what I’d been working for my whole life and I didn’t want to do anything, and I was still partying, trying to find stuff to make me forget about my loss.” “I was empty and sad and I felt I let everyone down,” he recalls. He stopped training altogether, stating matter-of-factly the only running he did was to the grocery store or for fast food. Fueled by the embarrassment and regret of losing his title, Ruiz lifestyle deteriorated further. Richard Heathcote // Getty ImagesĪnd it didn’t stop there. absorbs a punch from Anthony Joshua in their second fight in Saudia Arabia. “I didn’t prepare how I should have,” said Ruiz, who lost by unanimous decision. One British boxing writer noted that “while Joshua sported a six-pack, his opponent appeared to have consumed one.” Joshua danced around the ring, landing speedy hooks and jabs while avoiding trading big blows with the comparably sluggish Ruiz, who was unable to throw his trademark combinations. And by the time his December 2019 rematch with Joshua in Saudi Arabia rolled around, Ruiz rolled into the ring at 284 pounds, 16 pounds heavier than he had been in their first fight. He partied hard, drinking and eating to excess. Ruiz bought a garage full of luxury cars–a Mercedes, two Rolls Royces, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini and a Porsche. But the success went directly to Ruiz’s head, and to his waistline. It was a victory for the underdog and the doughy dad-bod–Ruiz and wife Julie have five children-and it was a dream come true. Ruiz, born in Imperial, CA, to Mexican parents, was the first boxer of Mexican descent to become the heavyweight champ. celebrates his victory over Anthony Joshua in June of 2019 at Madison Square Garden. He called Ruiz “the epitome of ‘don’t judge a book by his cover.’” “This is a surprise to boxing fans and the world,” said boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, commenting ringside. But Ruiz moved well and punched hard, dropping the Brit to the canvas four times en-route to a stunning seventh-round TKO and one of biggest boxing upsets in recent memory. At a paunchy 268 pounds, Ruiz looked out of his league alongside the chiseled Joshua, who was a 1-25 favorite. The deal was done, and on June 1, 2019, Ruiz stepped into the ring against the undefeated Joshua at Madison Square Garden with four title belts on the line. At that point, Hearn reached out to Ruiz Jr., who had just beaten German heavyweight Alexander Dimitrenko on Apand said after the fight that, if given the opportunity to fight Joshua on short-notice, he’d go immediately back into camp to prepare. A half dozen marquee fighters showed interest, but all of them wanted a big paycheck, including Cuban heavyweight Luis Ortiz whose manager declined Hearn’s offer of $7 million. Team Ruizįight promoter Eddie Hearn needed a qualified and legitimate opponent for Joshua, and he needed one as soon as possible. as a younger fighter with legendary trainer Freddie Roach.
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