ANDY RUIZ JR sat down in front of the press following his lopsided points loss to Anthony Joshua and admitted he had come in too heavy. He hit the scales at 283lbs which was 15lbs more than he weighed when he halted Joshua in June.
“I’m sorry, Manny,” he said to his trainer, Manny Robles. “I’m sorry to my dad too. They told me I was too heavy. I think the partying got the best of me.
Robles accepted the apology. He insisted he will stick by a fighter who has caused frustration to former trainers Freddie Roach and Abel Sanchez in the past.
“I was overweight man, I really was,” Ruiz continued. “I thought being bigger would make me stronger but I was wrong. I was slimmer but I put on the extra weight and I was wrong. I should have trained harder and listened to my team and my coaches.
“I should have pressured more, I was waiting too much. My arms weren’t fluid and it was because of the weight. The cut messed me up a little bit but it was the weight.
“When I walked to the ring I knew I was going to do my best. But he was the better man.”
Ruiz’s stomach spilled over his shorts when he removed his t-shirt before the opening bell. He had claimed it was intentional yesterday after his weight made the headlines but after the fight – sitting in front of the press, bruised and full of remorse – the remorse Ruiz felt was clear.
“I will learn from my mistakes and I’m still young,” he said. “Joshua learned from the first fight but I didn’t. I have to learn and I will come again.
“I’m not scared of anyone but I should have trained harder. Then I could have let my hands go like I did on June 1st. I shouldn’t have put this weight on, it stopped me from being as fast and letting my hands go.
So why didn’t he train harder?
“I don’t know,” Ruiz Jr sighed. “There was a lot on my plate but I don’t want to make excuses. I will learn from my mistakes. I’ll be ready for the next one.”
Ruiz insists that a third fight with Joshua will happen.
“I think I’ll prepare myself a lot more,” Ruiz said. “I don’t want any excuses but I know I will work my ass off. Even in that shape I did pretty good. When we went toe-to-toe I had a chance.”
