Former unified heavyweight world champion Andy Ruiz Jr went the distance against Luis Ortiz and marked a victory via unanimous decision at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
The fight marked Ruiz’s second win in a row since his loss to Anthony Joshua in the rematch back in 2019 December. His last outing in the ring had Ruiz dominate Chris Arreola in May last year via another 12-round UD.
Against Ortiz this Sunday night, Ruiz was the one landing the bigger jabs on his opponent, aside from showing good movements to get out of Ortiz’s attempts. Ortiz did, however, made some connection in between the hooks from Ruiz but in round two, ‘Destroyer’ threw a huge right hand to drop Ortiz.
Ortiz recovered from the knockdown and from the 3rd round, showed better stability on foot and threw a couple of jabs, with Ruiz continuing his combinations. The next few rounds went likewise but from round 4 onwards, marking started to appear around the left eye of Ruiz.
Ortiz continued to use his range, landing body shots and combinations on Ruiz but was hit with another huge connection that dropped him for a second time. Into the seventh round, Ruiz dropped Ortiz for the third time in the bout, but the latter came back stronger in the next round using his same gameplan, while Ruiz continuing his body shots.
Round 11 saw Ruiz coming in with a huge right hand, followed by a jab as Ortiz had his right eye swelling up. In the final round, Ortiz returned with a couple of uppercuts, with Ruiz firing back. Even though he absorbed the attempts from Ortiz, a huge left hand in the corner did rock Ruiz in the final moments of the fight, before he returned a right as well.
At the end of twelve thrilling rounds with huge back and forth between the two heavyweights, all three judges scored the bout 114-11, 114-111, 113-112 in favour of Ruiz, as the former champion won via unanimous decision.
“Staying active, man. I don’t want to be waiting so long before I fight,” said Ruiz after the victory, “I want to be fighting three or four times a year. I’m ready. I want to bring the belt back to Mexico.” [H/T CBS Sports]
Andy Ruiz Jr vs. Luis Ortiz Full Fight Card Result:
- Heavyweight: Andy Ruiz Jr. defeats Luis Ortiz via Unanimous Decision (114-111×2, 113-112)
- Lightweight: Isaac Cruz defeats Eduardo Ramirez via TKO at 2:27 of Round 2
- Lightweight: Abner Mares vs. Miguel Flores Majority Draw (95-95, 95-95, 96-94)
- Lightweight: Edwin De Los Santos defeats Jose Valenzuela via TKO at 1:08 of Round 3.
- Middleweight (10 rounds): Joey Spencer defeats Kevin Salgado via Unanimous Decision (100-90, 99-91×2)
- Junior featherweight (10 rounds): Ra’eese Aleem defeats Mike Plania via Unanimous Decision (100-89×3)
