Andy Ruiz Jr said three months of partying and a lack of proper training left him “overweight” for his world title rematch with Anthony Joshua.<\/p>\n
Ruiz, 30, was comprehensively out-pointed in Saudi Arabia, six months after shocking the boxing world by stopping Joshua in New York.<\/p>\n
The Mexican vowed he would be “a lot better” if he gets a third fight.<\/p>\n
“I should have trained harder. I should have listened to my team and coaches,” he said.<\/p>\n
“For this fight I was overweight. I didn’t move how I wanted to.”<\/p>\n
Ruiz, the second-heaviest world champion in heavyweight history behind Nikolai Valuev, gained 15lb since his win over Joshua, who is now a two-time champion in the glamour division.<\/p>\n
He scaled 20st 3lb at Friday’s weigh-in and, while he was brave and durable as Joshua ran out a unanimous points winner, he never threatened to repeat his incredible upset from earlier in the year.<\/p>\n
Many had questioned if a lifestyle which saw him buy new homes and cars, and make countless media appearances in the aftermath of his win, could prove costly.<\/p>\n
He appeared regretful and apologised to his trainer Manny Robles and father Andres at his post-fight news conference but was applauded out at its conclusion.<\/p>\n
The former champion claimed he had initially lost weight after his win but added: “I put on the weight and it was my mistake. No-one knows about the training we had. We did the best we can.<\/p>\n
“Being a champion for the first time, being over here and there and missing training, it was hard.<\/p>\n
“For the trilogy I will be a lot better. I want to redeem myself in Saudi Arabia.”<\/p>\n
Trainer Robles has stressed Ruiz had a full three-month camp but that would have still left more than three months between his win over Joshua and the start of preparations.<\/p>\n
“I don’t want to say the three months of partying or celebrating didn’t affect me, as to tell you the truth it kind of did,” Ruiz added.<\/p>\n
“There’s no excuses. The partying got the best of me. The next fight is going to be a lot different.<\/p>\n
“People are still doubting me. I am still a dangerous fighter to anyone in the division. At 100% I can dominate anyone in the world.<\/p>\n
“You best believe I am going to come back and be the heavyweight champion of the world once again.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Andy Ruiz Jr said three months of partying and a lack of proper training left him “overweight” for his world title rematch with Anthony Joshua. Ruiz, 30, was comprehensively out-pointed in Saudi Arabia, six months after shocking the boxing world by stopping Joshua in New York. The Mexican vowed he would be “a lot better” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":113058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,15,2,5],"tags":[49328,36090],"yoast_head":"\n