Former two-weight undisputed heavyweight champion of the world Evander Holyfield spoke to WBN this week about all things boxing, including Andy Ruiz Jr.
The legendary boxing figure, the only man to achieve the feat in multiple divisions, remains heavily involved in the sport.
Son Evan recently embarked on his career, making his debut on the Canelo vs. Sergey Kovalev undercard.
The man himself is a constant in big fights and events. Keeping himself abreast of the top contenders and current world title-holders.
One such fighter at the top of his game at the moment is Ruiz Jr., Mexico’s only-ever heavyweight champ. Holyfield knows Ruiz well.
The pair sparred earlier in the 30-year-old’s career when ‘The Destroyer’ was a fresh-faced teenager.
Discussing how things went down, Holyfield quickly pointed out he always saw something special in the youngster back in the day.
Evander Holyfield
“Andy Ruiz Jr. really can fight. He has fast hands and can really hit hard. But don’t nobody seem to know it,” Holyfield exclusively told World Boxing News.
“Everyone thinks it’s a fluke (that he beat Anthony Joshua the first time), but the guy showed he can get up from being knocked down. He got taken down and got back up to win.”
On being a latecomer heading into the fight, Holyfield pointed out Ruiz came in an unfancied and unknown quantity.
Holyfield had the inside track on a potential upset from their training time together.
“You got Anthony Joshua, almost the most decorated fighter in today’s era. Your wondering is, is it (the loss) because his guy pulled out?
“I realize that when you’re supposed to fight somebody and bring someone else, they can sneak you, just like when I fought Bert Cooper. You know, I was meant to fight Francesco Damiani, and then I got Bert Cooper, who was a journeyman. He was a good fighter at one time, but he couldn’t do much and all this and landed a good shot.
“I was able to recover, but these things can happen. The thing is with me, and I understand the boxing game. You look at Ruiz, and he doesn’t look like he can fight at all. Nothing tells you he can fight, but he can.
“I knew that he could fight because I sparred with him. At the time, I was 46 and he was 19. I couldn’t believe a 19-year-old could be that good and so aggressive. He would chase me down.
“I’m like, ‘I’m the heavyweight champion of the world, who’s he trying to chase down?’ It was just amazing the confidence that he had. The persistence to cut the ring down, even in sparring.
“So, I know that persistently, he will fight that same fight that he fought last time. If he’s (Joshua) not ready to have someone in his face in the whole fight, it could end up the same again.”
READY FOR ANYTHING
Concluding the topic of why Joshua had capitulated in such a damaging way, Holyfield could not relate to that kind of late switch of opponent.
“It ain’t hard to get yourself up to fight. From the time he (Joshua) beat Klitschko, he laid everyone out and tore them apart. So everybody decided to stay away from him.
“He never had to fight nobody who challenged him as much as (Ruiz) cut the ring the cut up, so he didn’t have to fight that hard. The thing is, with me, I never had that situation.
“I’ve always been the smaller guy, so I always had it drilled in that if I catch him one time, it might happen. I had fast hands. And I brought speed into boxing, not that it matters, but you had to have quick hands to beat me.
“I was a good boxer, and my own thing was I could box better than I could fight,” added the Olympic bronze medalist.
Phil Jay is the Editor of World Boxing News. Follow WBN: Facebook, Insta, Threads
