By Ian S Palmer
Former IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA (Super) Heavyweight Champion Andy Ruiz Jr. of Imperial, California takes on Chris Arreola of Los Angeles in a 12-round bout this Saturday, May 1. The fight from Carson, California can be seen live in North America on Fox pay-per-view and those in the UK can catch it on Premier Sports and Box Nation. Arreola last fought in August, 2019 when he threw a Compubox heavyweight record 1,125 punches in a 12-round unanimous decision loss to Adam Kownacki. Ruiz last fought in December, 2019 when he lost his titles to Anthony Joshua via a unanimous decision in their rematch. Ruiz had stopped Joshua in the seventh round seven months earlier. He was dropped in the third round while Joshua was down twice in the third and twice in the seventh before it was halted.
The 31-year-old Ruiz has an impressive mark of 33-2 with 22 Kos. His first loss was a majority decision for the vacant WBO World Heavyweight Championship against Joseph Parker in December, 2016. Ruiz was formerly the NABF Heavyweight Champion. He’s an intelligent boxer with an effective jab which he uses to set up his power shots.
His best weapons are the left hook and overhand right and he’s been able to stop 14 of his past 21 opponents. There’s no doubt he has decent power with a current knockout ratio of 62.3 per cent. Ruiz has boxed 163 rounds since turning pro in 2009 and has also beaten the likes of Alexander Dimitrenko, Kevin Johnson, Siarhei Liakhovich, Joe Hanks, Tor Hamer, Ray Austin, Josh Gormley, Franklin Lawrence and Carl Davis.
He’s 6-feet-2-inches tall with a 74-inch reach. He won the NABA, and WBO Inter Continental Heavyweight Crowns when he stopped Manuel Quezada in the second round in 2014. The knock against Ruiz is that he doesn’t always come into the ring in the best of shape. He was 268 lbs against Joshua in their first fight and 283.5 lbs in their rematch. However, that’s not too bad perhaps, considering he weighed 297.5 lbs in his pro debut.
Arreola just turned 40 years old on March 5th and will climb into the ring with a record of 38-6-1 with 33 Kos. He certainly has better-than-average power for a heavyweight with a current knockout ratio of 70.2 per cent. Arreola isn’t the biggest heavyweight around, but he’s not small either as he stands 6-feet-3-inches in height with a 76-inch reach. He’s an inch taller than Ruiz with a two-inch edge in reach.
He’s fought 222 rounds since turning pro in 2003 and has beaten the likes of Damian Wills, Cliff Couser, Chazz Witherspoon, Travis Walker, Jameel McCline, Brian Minto, Malcom Tann, Israel Garcia, Nagy Aguilera, Joey Abell, Eric Molina and Seth Mitchell. His other defeats have come at the hands of former WBC champion Deontay Wilder as well as former world champions Tomasz Adamek, Vitali Klitschko and Bermane Stiverne.
Arreola’s been stopped three times as Wilder halted him in eight rounds in 2016, Klitschko stopped him in the 10th round in 2009 and Stiverne stopped him in the sixth round of their rematch in 2014 after berating him by a 12-round unanimous decision three years earlier. His draw was a 10-round affair with Fred Kassi in 2015.
Arreola also fought to no-decisions against Travis Kauffman and Friday Ahunanya after testing positive for marijuana. Arreola is more or less a one-dimensional fighter but he’s pretty good at that dimension. He’s an exciting, fan-friendly boxer who doesn’t mind slugging it out and taking two or more punches to land one of his own. He’s been stopped a few times but still has a better-than-average chin.
Prediction…
The main question concerning Ruiz is typically about his weight and condition. He’s supposedly going to weight about 255 lbs this weekend and we’ll soon see how accurate that rumour is. Ruiz has good boxing skills for a big guy even when he’s out of shape though and as he proved against Joshua he has what it takes to get off the canvas to win. Ruiz should expect to be in a war on Saturday since Arreola just keeps throwing leather round after round unless he’s stopped. Ruiz has the skills to beat Arreola but if he gets drawn into a slugfest it might mean he has to give it everything he’s got. Still, Ruiz should have his hand held up when it’s over.
