Dominic Breazeale knows full well what Andy Ruiz Jr. is capable of doing in a boxing ring.
The heavyweight contenders sparred against one another numerous times when they both were trained by Manny Robles. Breazeale can’t help but feel, however, that Ruiz merely was in the right place at the right time when he stopped Anthony Joshua and pulled off one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight history last June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Breazeale assessed Ruiz’s two performances against Joshua during an episode of “The PBC Podcast.”
“I think that in the first situation he got lucky,” Breazeale told co-hosts Kenneth Bouhairie and Michael Rosenthal. “And when I say lucky, you know, I don’t say that he closed his eyes and threw punches and landed something. He just happened to land the big shot before Joshua did, and you know, became victorious.”
Ruiz got up from a third-round knockdown to floor Joshua twice in that round. The Mexican-American challenger sent Joshua to the canvas twice more in the seventh round.
Referee Michael Griffin stopped their bout at 1:27 of the seventh round, when an exhausted Joshua didn’t respond to Griffin’s instruction to walk forward from the corner.
Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) regained his IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles from Ruiz in their immediate rematch. Ruiz came in at 283½ pounds, 15 pounds more than he weighed for their first fight, and he was thoroughly out-boxed by Joshua in that 12-round encounter December 7 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
“I don’t think he put in the work that he needed to do coming into the second fight,” Breazeale said. “He definitely didn’t look the part. I know he stood on his feet for 12 rounds, but Joshua was playing it safe and was able to overcome Andy Ruiz and get his belts back and [pick up] a victory in the second fight. I think Andy understands, you know, he kind of dropped the ball in that fight now, and he’s working towards his next title shot.”
The 6-feet-7, 255-pound Breazeale (20-2, 18 KOs), whom Joshua stopped in the seventh round in June 2016, would like to prevent Ruiz from getting another championship chance.
“I think, you know, I should be one of the individuals he needs to go up against,” Breazeale said, “before he gets back in there and fights for another title.”
The 34-year-old Breazeale, of Eastvale, California, feels he and Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) would produce a fantastic action fight.
“I think it would be a fan-favorite type of fight,” Breazeale said. “He likes to throw leather with bad intentions; so do I. I’m not a scared fighter. I’m one of those guys that goes in there with guns blazing and I’m looking for the knockout in every punch. So, I think it would be something that the fans would love, a fight between an individual like myself and Andy Ruiz, more than they would, you know, a part three Wilder-Fury type of situation, for sure.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.