Heavyweight contender Andy Ruiz has lost 25-pounds and is currently on the road to making a big return, says trainer Jorge Capetillo.

Ruiz has been out of the ring since December of 2019, when he lost a twelve round unanimous decision in a rematch with Anthony Joshua.

In June of the same year, Ruiz had shocked the world when he stopped Joshua in seven rounds to capture the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO world titles.

While he exceeded all expectations in the first encounter, it was a different story in the rematch.

In the second meeting, Ruiz was out of shape and unable to put his punches together.

The following year, he parted ways with head trainer Manny Robles and replaced him with Eddy Reynsoso, who is best known for training Canelo Alvarez, Ryan Garcia, Oscar Valdez and others.

Capetillo had worked with Ruiz in the early portion of his career and he also worked as a cutman for WBC champion Tyson Fury.

He would love to see Fury provide Ruiz with some words of encouragement.

"It would be huge for me, professional and personally, if they could share the gym, share a chat, share how their families are," Capetillo told Sky Sports about Ruiz and Fury. "It would be positive motivation for Andy.

"Andy knows that Tyson has also taken care of me. Andy speaks highly of Tyson. They share the same faith too. Andy, like Tyson, is a man of faith and family. We all make mistakes. They have a good feeling for each other. This is what life is about. We make mistakes, we fall down, but we have to get up and move forwards.

"A fighter never loses because they get knocked down. They lose because they don't get up. I want Andy to prove to himself that it was not a lucky shot. Because it was not lucky, let me tell you, because Joshua went down but got back up. Joshua didn't run. But you saw what happened. I would love to see Andy as a champion again."

Capetillo has been keeping watch of Ruiz's comeback efforts.

He says the hunger is now back in the former champion - who openly admitted to have partied for two months after capturing the titles from Joshua.

"Andy is a kid. He got distracted. Now I can see he is more calm with his family. He is getting back on track, especially mentally," Capetillo said.

"He has hunger again. He has tasted what it means to be a world champion. I can see he wants more! But you have to be willing to sacrifice. So to be around Canelo, who has this mind-set day-in day-out, is a great influence for Andy. His weight has gone down 25-pounds. He looks very slim. He doesn't want to show up to Reynoso looking rough."