Former unified heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr 34-2 (22) is looking to get back in the ring against a top 10 heavyweight.
In his last outing the 32-year-old Mexican-American recovered from a second-round knockdown to outpoint veteran Chris Arreola 38-7-1 (33) over 12 rounds at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California in May.
The shortlist of opponents for Ruiz’s next fight include WBA number nine Adam Kownacki 20-1 (15), IBF number two Charles Martin 28-2-1 (25) and WBC number four, WBA number five, IBF number 10 and WBO number seven Luis Ortiz 32-2 (27).
Kownacki is headed into an immediate rematch with his lone conqueror Robert Helenius 30-3 (19) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 9 on the undercard of the WBC heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury 30-0-1 (21) and Deontay Wilder 42-1-1 (41).
Neither Martin nor Ortiz have fights scheduled.
“We’re looking at Adam Kownacki, he’s going to be fighting in October,” said Ruiz to FightHype.
“There’s Charles Martin, Luis Ortiz. There’s a lot of guys out there for me. I just gotta stay busy and stay active.”
Ruiz is coming off surgery to his right knee but says his recovery is going well.
“I just had surgery, I had a torn meniscus,” Ruiz said. “I was supposed to get operated on it three years ago but I was scared.
“They were giving me medicine for it but the doctor told me that it’s better for me to be operated on.
“I feel good, I feel blessed and hopefully, I should be getting back in there in December.”
Ruiz also commented on Anthony Joshua’s loss to Oleksandr Usyk 19-0 (13) on the weekend.
Joshua 24-2 (22) lost his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles to the former undisputed cruiserweight champion by unanimous decision at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in Tottenham, England on Saturday night.
The Ukrainian southpaw simply outboxed the bigger man to run away with the win by scores of 117-112, 115-113 and 116-112.
Ruiz knows Joshua as well as anyone. In June 2019 he upset the 31-year-old Brit to claim the three belts by seventh-round stoppage at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden.
He surrendered the straps to Joshua in their immediate rematch in Saudi Arabia six months later, going down by wide unanimous decision.
“I thought Anthony was going to be the stronger man,” Ruiz said. “I thought he was going to box him around with his abilities, you know.
“He just kind of stayed there. I don’t know why he wasn’t moving around, like in the second fight with me.
“He ran around and made sure he didn’t get hit, and if he did, he would grab and move around. So he had his strategy. But for this fight, it didn’t go his way.
“It was probably the wrong strategy. He probably underestimated him. Kind of like how I did with Chris Arreola.
“I think Anthony Joshua is still there, still strong. I kind of felt he was scared and holding back a little bit. Maybe it was the lefty style of Usyk and how he moves.”
