Bob Arum Pleased With Rejuvenated Andy Ruiz Jr.

By Jake Donovan

Bob Arum was in a jovial mood in discussing this weekend’s fight card at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Headlining the show, local hero and reigning Fighter of the Year Terence Crawford defends his super lightweight crown versus Dierry Jean in the lone bout of the night that will air live on HBO (Saturday, 9:30 p.m. ET).

Among those appearing on the undercard include heavyweight prospect Andy Ruiz Jr. The unbeaten boxer from Mexicali faces Raphael Zumbrano Love in a scheduled eight-round bout, his second fight in four weeks following a forced nine-month hiatus from sport.

In introducing Ruiz (25-0, 17KOs) to the local crowd, Arum quipped that due to the boxer’s Mexican heritage, he was the type of fighter “certain people (business tycoon and presidential candidate Donald Trump) want to build a wall that he wouldn’t be here today. But here he is, and we’re lucky to have him.” 

It wasn’t that long ago when Ruiz’ career progress – or lack thereof – wiped the smiles off the faces of his handlers. Ruiz managed to keep winning, but his weight and poor conditioning grew to the point where an intervention was required.

“We've always been enthralled with Andy,” Arum told BoxingScene.com. “We saw incredibly fast hands with this fat, schlubby guy. He had the talent but we couldn't market it because he was carrying around this extra weight.”

An extended ring break came of it, as Ruiz first healed up a hand injury while ditching his bad habits to get into fighting and physical shape. He passed his first audition, showing up at a much trimmer 247¾ lbs. for his eight-round shutout win over Joell Godfrey in September, 20 lbs. lighter than what he weighed in a 10-round decision over faded former champ Siarhai Liakhovich last December.

The fight was scheduled with the idea of two more to follow, in efforts to have 2015 end far better than was the case a year ago. He returns four weeks later and – with a win and barring injury – plans to fight again on December 5 in Fresno.

From there? Only time will tell.

For now, his team excited about his career prospects for the first time since initially laying eyes on the 6’1” heavyweight.

“Look ,will he ever be cut up? Probably not,” Arum notes, but only asking his heavyweight to be in fighting shape. “But at least now he doesn't look like a new age Butterbean. I think he can go very far. How far? Who knows, but now that he's in shape we can take that shot.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox