Manny Robles has claimed money ruined former WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr after his shock win over Anthony Joshua in New York last June.
An overweight Ruiz Jr was comfortably outboxed by Joshua in Saudi Arabia in December. Robles was subsequently sacked as coach in the aftermath of the loss.
“I never got a phone call from Andy Ruiz to begin with. He never talked to me. It was the father that approached me, and the father that came to the gym to talk to me about the separation,” said Robles to iFL TV.
“I haven’t heard from Andy since the fight in Saudi Arabia.
“Obviously I was disappointed, but you never lose faith. Me as an individual, a person and as a coach, I try to hang in there the best that I could, and not lose faith in my fighter and hope that he would wake up one day and realize the importance and the responsibility that he had not only to himself but for all of the fans and the people in boxing.
“You’ve got to understand he’s a ghetto boy. He’s a ghetto kid that never had anything in life, and all of a sudden you wake up and you’re the champion of the world and have millions of dollars in the bank. You’re getting ready to make more millions. It’s overwhelming. The situation became so overwhelming for him.
“He made a lot of new friends that weren’t around when he had nothing, and unfortunately, people change with money.
“I think money and fame. Money changes people. I can’t say all but it definitely does, and it changed him. Unfortunately, it changed him for the worse.
“It’s hard to wake up in the morning with silk sheets and have to get up in the morning and go run and go to work.
“But you wake up that way knowing you have all that money in the bank and whatever. As I said, it was much greater than that, and I tried to convince him.
“Look, you have a huge responsibility. If money drives you, go out there and make more. Let’s go beat this guy [Anthony Joshua] again.”
Robles was asked what he thought of a potential Luis Ortiz fight for Ruiz Jr.
“I did everything on my end, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Great fight. Andy can win that fight, but he’s just got to show up,” he said.
