Arum Hopes Andy Ruiz Fixes Problems, Meets Expectations

By Jake Donovan

Saturday's UniMas televised card, which airs live from The Bomb Factory in Dallas, was originally due to feature unbeaten heavyweight hopeful Andy Ruiz in a stay-busy clash versus Danny Batchelder. However, the bout was scrapped after Ruiz’ team opted to pull the Mexico-born California-based boxer from the show over concerns of not being in the proper mental (fight mode, not clinical) frame of mind.

It was the third consecutive date pulled from under Ruiz, though the previous two not by his own doing. The 26-year old fell out of good graces with the Top Rank staff as well as his own team after ballooning grossly out of shape for past fights. Sidelines for the first eight months of 2015 from injuries as well as an unofficial internal suspension, Ruiz returned in late September, showing up 20 full pounds lighter than his previous appearance.

An UniMas-televised rust-shaking decision win over Joell Godfrey – a late replacement for Devin Vargas – was followed up by a quick turnaround, returning just four weeks later. Ruiz looked sharp in pounding on Raphael Zumbrano Love over eight rounds on the non-televised undercard of Terence Crawford’s homecoming knockout win over Dierry Jean last October in Omaha, Nebraska.

At the time, a December 5 UniMas date was on the table for Ruiz, only for the opportunity to fall through when intended opponent Michael Grant could not get his medicals cleared in time by the commission. Efforts to add the unbeaten heavyweight to an Oscar Valdez-headlined UniMas card one week later proved futile, as they couldn’t find a suitable opponent in time.

With all the parts in place, this time it was Ruiz who was forced to shoulder the blame for not making the fight happen.

“I love the kid, I really do… but sometimes, Andy Ruiz can be his own worst enemy,” stated Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, when discussing the fighter with BoxingScene.com.

“We want to have big plans for Andy. He has tremendously fast hands and all the talent in the world. But because of the problems he’s had – he remains a work in progress instead of the next big star.

“As a contender from Mexico, that makes him a bit of an anomaly in the heavyweight division. In order to get him back in the ring, though, he has to want it for himself.”