CRUISING RUIZ
Mexican champ taking life in the fast lane in his stride
THE conventional wisdom is that a boxer risks illfortune and toys with distraction if he so much as thinks about the opponent after the one about to come for him from the opposite corner. Let alone talks about it.
But then, as the self-described chubby kid, Andy Ruiz Jnr has been defying the preconceptions of prizefighting since his dad took him to a gym aged six and he started beating up older boys.
So he has no hesitation in revealing that he and Deontay Wilder are negotiating a mega-bucks fight for the undisputed world heavyweight championship, even as he readies himself to defend his titles in his rematch against Anthony Joshua tomorrow night.
‘Yep, it’s all arranged,’ says the rotund Ruiz, who came out of nowhere to spring one of the most amazing upsets by knocking out Joshua in New York last summer. Of Wilder, whose explosive fists knock down all who dare to challenge for his WBC title, Ruiz says: ‘Deontay’s a good friend. We talk on the telephone all the time.’
For their grand design to become golden reality, not only must Ruiz beat Joshua but Wilder has to win the February rematch of his epic draw with Tyson Fury.
Mere trifles, apparently. Ruiz points out that both he and Wilder are promoted by Al Haymon, the financial shadow boxer who pulls the purse strings for Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather.
‘Al’s told us the plan,’ he says. Whatever Al wants, Al is in the habit of getting, so Ruiz feels at ease talking about these first seven-figure paydays of his career.
‘Being rich and famous is going really well,’ he says with his everready chuckle as he reaches out for the $13million (£9.9m) cheque written in Saudi oil which will more than replenish however much has been spent of the $5m (£3.8m) bite he took out of the Big Apple six months ago.
Moments after he defeated Joshua, Ruiz told his mother, ‘Mum, we don’t have to struggle any more.’ Senora Ruiz was wreathed in smiles as she waved back from the madding crowd.
Not only had her laughing boy secured the family fortunes but she and most of their many relatives had snaffled $10,000 (£7.6k) each by backing him at 11-1.
The journey from a dusty border town to the wealth of being the first world heavyweight champion of Mexican origin was complete. Almost. All that remained was a car ride. As soon as he arrived back home in the southern Californian city of Imperial he borrowed a flash convertible and drove down the main street through cheering crowds, brandishing those glittering belts. A COupLE of days later he bought his own high- end motors: a white Rolls Bentley and a porsche panamera. He has now added two top-of-the range G-Wagons and a Lamborghini. ‘They’ve been my maddest purchases so far,’ he says. ‘ plus I bought my mum and dad a truck. It gets a bit overwhelming at times but this is what I’ve been working for all my life.’
He describes his diamond encrusted watch and bracelet as ‘little bits of merchandise’, but it is cars which are his status symbol of choice. His fleet is garaged now in another of his purchases, the sprawling hacienda which stands in mesquite scrubland on the edge of town.
No doubt his father advised him on this purchase. Andy Snr, a construction worker when he and his wife emigrated to the uS where Ruiz was born, earned his living by ‘flipping’ houses — buying properties and selling them on for a quick profit.
The 30-year-old Andy Jnr’s new home includes the obligatory pool amid fountains along with tennis and basketball courts, as well as more than enough bedrooms to accommodate himself, his wife and their five children plus guests. He has taken to giving tours of the estate to townsfolk who drive to see their hero.
However this is not a champion who lives in an ivory tower. Ruiz is a man of the people. In his heart, the Mexican people. Although grateful for all that America has given him, it was to the Mexican president’s residence that he took his recently acquired belts. Not the White House.
And although his dual citizenship is enhancing his earning power it is his fellow Mexicans to whom he is promising he will ‘do everything possible to keep those belts for our country’. That includes improving his diet since he beat Joshua. However, Ruiz still resembles that corpulent figure who shocked the world and who was brought up on Snickers bars and his mother’s pollo mole, a dish of roast chicken smothered in a sauce containing chocolate. Will he stick with his habit of scoffing two Snickers before his ring walk tomorrow? ‘Oh yeah.’
So chubby was he as a boy that his nickname ‘Destroyer’ was given to him by his father not for boxing but because he blundered about the house like a bull smashing the china. But the nickname belies the slickest of heavyweight fighting styles. He is quick with his feet and his fists as he lets fly with rapid-fire combinations.
Ruiz is so confident of beating Joshua again that he risked his wrath by accusing him to his face of surrendering in the first fight. ‘He spat out his mouthpiece... I felt in my heart he quit,’ he said.
The ultimate insult. ‘I respect him as a man and would give him a hug outside the ring,’ Ruiz added. ‘But I want him to be angry in the fight because I will be calm and that will make it easier for me to knock him out again.’
Andy Ruiz is having fun.
n Ruiz v Joshua is on Sky Sports Box Office, £24.95