5 years ago today. The day the hype died.

[JakeTheBoxer]

And since than Ruiz has only had 3 more fights: Joshua rematch, Arreola, Ortiz. He has fought on fringe level since he lost his titles.

[kafkod]

Looking at the context, Ruiz was a bad choice of opponent for AJ at that point in his career, even allowing for the fact that they needed to find a replacement for Big Baby at short notice.

AJ's US debut was supposed to launch Eddie Hearn and and DAZN's "American takeover". They needed an opponent for AJ to look good against to impress the US casuals. Andy Ruiz was not that guy, and I said so here before the fight happened. Ruiz is very tough and durable, with good stamina, fast hands and respectable power. But the US casuals didn't know about that. All they saw in Andy was a short, fat Mexican, who AJ would surely dispatch quickly and easily, if the hype was real.

To make matters worse, AJ/Hearn were in the middle of a propaganda war with Deontay Wilder/PBC, and Wilder had just posted a devastating, highlight reel, 1st round KO of Breazeale, which added to the pressure on AJ to look just as devastating against Andy. Like I said, Andy Ruiz is not the guy you want to go out looking for a quick KO against.

[BoxingParadigm]

That fight shocked me. I knew Andy was skilled and had very fast hands, but I didn't think he hit that hard. I also thought AJ was an absolute beast coming off his win over Wladimir. He's still a beast, but more vulnerable than I initially thought.

[BustedKnuckles]

Time goes fast!

Was it the same night as Liverpool v Spurs Champions League final? For some reason I have it in my head I was watching that match at someone's house and then went home to watch this card.

What a crazy night that was. All sensible boxing fans knew AJ would lose at some point, but I don't think many thought it would be Andy Ruiz at short notice that kept bouncing him off the canvas.

Persoon also battered Taylor that night and got robbed.

I know exactly where I was... At the beach, with my wife and kids, in a nice rental, with the fight playing on a laptop on the kitchen table. That was back when DAZN was cheap. Epic upset.

[djtmal]

Crazy it’s been 5 years since Ruiz upset AJ. NSB was a crazy place back then, you had nutters like Juggs and **** Em claiming AJ was the GOAT Heavyweight.

Your flip flopping azz probably was rooting for the other guy until he lost

[JakeTheBoxer]

Ruiz is lost talent. He beat Joshua , but that is pretty much it. Lost the rematch, took the money and spent the next 4 years doing nothing or fighting Arreola and Ortiz for nothing. In august he fights Miller in another pointless fight.