Andy Ruiz Jr. scored three knockdowns tonight in a close decision over Luis Ortiz, picking up his second straight victory since his 2019 rematch loss against Anthony Joshua.
Ruiz won by scores of 113-112, 114-111 and 114-111. The knockdown took three points from Ortiz, which would mean that two judges had it even at 6-6 rounds and one judge had Ortiz winning seven rounds to Ruiz’s 5. A bad left hook scores it 113-112 for Ruiz on our unofficial card.
Mainly in the second round, where Ruiz scored two of his knockdowns. It should be noted that the second was a questionable decision call by referee Thomas Taylor and had it not been counted, Ruiz would still have won, but by split decision, and two cards would have gone his way by one point. . We’ll probably talk a little more about the controversy in that case.
But the 43-year-old Ortiz (33-3, 28 KO) never made a real mark on the fight. Andy Ruiz seemed to go the way he approached them. If he backs off too much, it’s easy for Ortiz to score them, whose jabs can be said to be there for rounds when, frankly, nothing is happening. And it was not difficult for the Cuban to find six or seven of them.
Ruiz (35-2, 22 KO) was facing a southpaw for the first time as a pro, and it certainly showed, with former titleholders usually circling the “wrong” way, under Ortiz’s power hand. He never bit him, because Ortiz doesn’t have the legs to catch opponents by surprise other than timing them, and Ruiz was able to take advantage of that, using his own agility and hand speed to sting Ortiz often, which Ortiz can’t do much about because he’s slower now.
It wasn’t the all-star performance you’d expect to see from Ruiz, but a lot of it was brilliant and he got the job done. He won’t face many fighters like Ortiz, and he knows that Ortiz is dangerous with his power and timing, if he gives him too many chances. We almost saw it late in the second round when Ortiz cracked him and Ruiz clearly felt it. The fight was never the same from there, with Ruiz dropping Ortiz for the third time in the seventh round to a good crowd.
“I thought I did a pretty good job boxing him,” Ruiz said. “It was very difficult, but the ability I had, my counter-punching and hooking and releasing it, was a blessing.”
Ruiz said he wants to be more active. “I don’t want to wait that long until I fight. I want to fight again at least three-four times. I’m ready, man, I’m hungry, I want to be champion again.
Deontay Wilder, who returns on Oct. 15 against Robert Helenius, was in attendance for about 20 percent of the total broadcast devoted to him this evening, and Ruiz said he would welcome it as the next fight: “He and I are in the same organization, Al Heyman will make this fight.” can Let’s do it, let’s start it. “
“Whoever said ‘King Kong’ is old, I gave you a fight today. I thought I put up a good fight tonight,” Ortiz said through an interpreter, adding that he would love a rematch. “You think I’m done? We’ll see you tonight.” Saw the war here. Do people think ‘King Kong’ is over?
