By Steve Kim

There had been a rather alarming trend with heavyweight prospect Andy Ruiz in recent fights. Never exactly svelte, his weight had been steadily climbing in recent fights and his weight was creeping up into the 260's. After he struggled in his last outing in December against Sergey Liakhovich, he was effectively shelved by Top Rank till he lost a significant amount of weight.

The 25-year old Ruiz, who had been training in Las Vegas the past few years is now in the mountains of Big Bear, California at the Summit Gym with trainer Abel Sanchez.

According to Sanchez - who's best known for currently training Gennady Golovkin and Terry Norris in the past - Ruiz is - "doing very good, he has been here for about six weeks, has lost about 30 pounds, working hard but most importantly he is adapting well to just following a program and not running his own show."

Up here, it's his way or the highway.

"We will see how much he puts up with our system, I will not bend our rules or make it easier for him," promised Sanchez.

Ruiz, who has a record of 24-0 (17 KO's), is expected to return at some point in the late summer according to Top Rank matchmaker, Brad Goodman.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.