There are two obvious candidates Andy Ruiz Jr. could point to when asked about the toughest fight of his career.
Born in California, Ruiz represented his Mexican heritage while attempting to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Although he fell short of reaching the sport’s grandest stage, his professional career would hit stratospheric heights more than a decade later.
After travelling to New Zealand in December 2016 and coming up short in a bid for Joseph Parker’s WBO heavyweight title, Ruiz’s fortunes changed dramatically in 2019.
Drafted in at short notice to replace Jarrell Miller — who had failed a drugs test — Ruiz stunned the boxing world by stopping Anthony Joshua in seven rounds at Madison Square Garden to claim three heavyweight world titles.
Written off beforehand, Ruiz rose from the canvas in a chaotic contest to pull off one of the greatest upsets in the sport’s history.
The messy 12 rounds against Parker on the other side of the world, or the knockdown-filled classic with Joshua, would both be understandable choices as Ruiz’s toughest assignment. Instead, that distinction goes to his most recent outing.
In August 2024, Ruiz (35-2-1, 22 KOs) fought Jarrell Miller to a 12-round draw on the Terence Crawford–Israil Madrimov undercard in Los Angeles. Speaking on a recent livestream, Ruiz explained why that punishing encounter stands above all others.
“I couldn’t do nothing — I was surviving. I had one hand from the fifth round all the way to the 12th. That was the hardest fight I ever had in my life. I literally had to survive. There were times I wanted to give up and my dad was like, ‘F*** no. What do you mean you’re going to give up? There’s only four more rounds left — come on.’
“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. When things aren’t going your way in the ring, the hardest thing is changing your style or surviving through those rounds. That’s the toughest thing you can do.”
Neither Ruiz or Miller have competed since that clash in August 2024, but ‘Big Baby’ is set to return on January 31 when he takes on Kingsley Ibeh in New York. Ruiz, meanwhile, has been tentatively linked with Oleksandr Usyk and has also called for a fight with Tyson Fury.
