Mikey Garcia is confident that Andy Ruiz can become heavyweight champion again. In 2019, Ruiz shocked the sporting world when he dropped Anthony Joshua four times before stopping the seemingly indestructible Brit in seven rounds.
Six months later, an out of shape Ruiz surrendered his belts in an immediate rematch to Joshua prompting major changes within his team. Eddy Reynoso, the trainer of Canelo Alvarez, is now in the corner of Ruiz and boxing fans will get their first glimpse of that partnership when Ruiz faces former world title challenger, Chris Arreola, in California this weekend.
“Definitely, I think he can,” said Garcia when asked by Fight Hub if Ruiz can win a world title for a second time. “He’s got fast hands. He’s got the power to do it just like he did it the first time. He’s got a great trainer with Eddy [Reynoso].
“He seems to be very disciplined. He’s slimmed down from his last one where he was 280 something. He’s at 256 so 30lbs is a lot of weight so I think it’s great.”
As well as expecting Ruiz to have his say within the title picture at heavyweight division, a landscape currently dominated by Joshua and Tyson Fury, the four-weight world champion is anticipating a great fight when Ruiz and Arreola finally come face to face.
“I think Chris is trying to take advantage of the opportunity that’s in front of him so I expect a great fight from him. At the same time, we’ve got Andy who wants to prove to everybody that it wasn’t just coincidence or luck or a fluke the first time so he wants to make sure he gets that title shot again. He’s got to get through Chris and I think it’s all a recipe for a great match up.”