Former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. will battle Jarrell Miller on Terence Crawford’s August 3 undercard following another long layoff.
Ruiz is making another comeback to action after outside-of-the-ring distractions, and as WBN reported yesterday, needed a knock-over opponent. He gets that in Miller, who didn’t look great against Daniel Dubois last time out.
When two of the most weighty top-division operators trade blows in the summer, 601 pounds of beef will be on display. For his last fight, Ruiz weighed just over 268 pounds. Against Dubois, Miller scaled 333 and out-weighed the Briton by nearly one hundred pounds.
It’s a heavyweight battle in every sense of the word, with Ruiz undoubtedly being the favorite to prevail. However, by the time he gets in the ring, it will be almost two years since his last victory over Luis Ortiz. Ruiz has only fought three times since winning the biggest prize in the sport against Anthony Joshua in 2019.
With his focus questioned, Ruiz has much to prove if he wants to get a piece of the action in Saudi Arabia before he retires. He’s already seen a mandated clash with Deontay Wilder fall apart, costing him Pay Per View millions.
Al Haymon earmarked the pair to fight as soon as Ruiz won the WBO, WBA, and IBF belts, as Wilder held the WBC crown then. The PBC boss had the undisputed heavyweight title in-house for 2020, provided both Ruiz and Wilder could defeat Joshua and Fury in rematches. Both failed. And even when the WBC revived the fight as a WBC eliminator in 2022, the pair still didn’t share a ring.
It’s now up to Ruiz to prove he’s still got the desire and that fire still burns to get back in the mix. A third fight with Joshua wouldn’t be out of the question if he can prove his dedication to the cause.
Fury has also mentioned Ruiz as a possible challenger to his throne in the past, leaving a win over Miller as a must. Also, the first-ever Mexican heavyweight champion has to look good doing it.
As for Miller, another defeat won’t be the end of the story for the 26-1-1 slugger. However, he is in danger of falling into the also-ran category if he can’t prove his worth at the top level.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
