Boxing’s ‘Little Fat Boy’ Continues To Wow The World
Andy Ruiz Jr. (right) and Anthony Joshua exchange punches during the heavyweight championship match Saturday. Ruiz won in the seventh round.
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Frank Franklin II/AP
Every now and then, boxing fights its way back into the crowded sports headlines and Saturday was one of those moments.
Little-known Andy Ruiz Jr. gave sports fans a new Rocky moment. The 29-year-old fighter beat the favored and previously undefeated Anthony Joshua at Madison Square Garden in New York, and became the heavyweight champion of the world.
Or, to be specific, Ruiz became the champion of the confusing, alphabet soup world of boxing – he’s now the top heavyweight in the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO fight-sanctioning bodies.
Ruiz also is the first heavyweight champion of Mexican descent.
And when we say heavyweight – we mean it.
Ruiz stands 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs a shade under 270 pounds. His flab is evident – he can’t hide the fact, wearing boxing trunks, nor does he try. Pre-fight, he had a warning for Joshua – “don’t underestimate this little fat boy.”
Whether or not Joshua did, it became evident in the fight’s third round that he indeed had a fight on his hands. He knocked down Ruiz, and looked well on his way to another win. But stunningly, Ruiz came back in that same round and knocked down Joshua. Not once but twice. As Joshua got up after the second knockdown, the bell rang. Many believe that saved Joshua from an earlier defeat.
As it was, Ruiz scored two more knockdowns in the seventh, and the referee called the fight. Ruiz was the champion by technical knockout.
“It doesn’t matter what you look like or what kind of physique you have,” veteran boxing writer Nigel Collins told NPR. “The most important thing is knowing how to fight.”
Collins, a staff writer for ESPN, said Ruiz cut off the ring perfectly against Joshua — meaning Ruiz didn’t chase after Joshua, but instead moved to where Joshua wanted to go.
“That’s a skill,” Collins said, “that involves a lot of lateral movement. You don’t want to follow the guy because he’ll always be one step ahead of you. You move laterally so you’re still right in front of him without following him.
“Some fighters do a lot of stuff that uses up energy that’s not really accomplishing anything. [Ruiz], no. Every move he made, he knew what he was doing.”
Regarding Ruiz’s sizeable girth, Collins said he saw a video of Ruiz doing agility drills.
“And he was doing it great, like a ballet dancer,” Collins said.
A 2015 inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Collins has witnessed other boxers who, shall we say, were less than sculpted.
“We want to talk about fat fighters,” Collins said, “how about George Foreman when he came back? You know, he was making cheeseburger jokes at press conferences and he had this big gut on him and he ended up winning the heavyweight championship 10 years after he retired.”
Foreman had cheeseburgers; Ruiz has Snickers bars. They have been his candy of choice since he was a kid. His dad, who introduced him to boxing, also introduced him to Snickers.
“My dad would always give me a Snickers before a fight,” Ruiz said. “It gives me energy. It give me everything I need to get the win.”
With Saturday’s win, Ruiz turned the boxing world upside down. Reactions on Twitter included disparaging words for Joshua, a champion from England. He’s been criticized for not fighting other top heavyweights, such as Deontay Wilder.
Wilder tweeted: “He wasn’t a true champion.”
He wasn’t a true champion. His whole career was consisted of lies, contradictions and gifts.
Facts and now we know who was running from who!!!!#TilThisDay— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) June 2, 2019
And this from Shannon Sharpe, former NFL star turned co-host of Fox’s sports talk show Skip and Shannon: Undisputed: “Joshua got knocked out by a dude shaped like Butterbean.”
Now we know Anthony Joshua kept dodging D. Wilder. Joshua got knocked out by a dude shaped like Butterbean.?????
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) June 2, 2019
But mostly there was praise for Ruiz, who only qualified for the fight after Joshua’s original opponent failed several drug tests.
Pura pinchi RAZZZZAAA!!!! Congratulations @Andy_destroyer1
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) June 2, 2019
…But i do want to say congrats to Andy Ruiz for becoming the first EVER Mexican Heavyweight champ! #Respect To AJ… Pick urself up and learn from this. Don’t worry, you will bounce back! #JoshuaRuiz@FightScorecard
— Lennox Lewis (@LennoxLewis) June 2, 2019
WOW! Andy Ruiz just shocked the world! That was one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) June 2, 2019
Boxing is incredibly popular in Hispanic culture. Boxing experts say the growth of that demographic in the United States has saved the sport here. And Ruiz’s triumph only adds to that.
“There are a lot of good Mexican boxers,” said 15-year-old Mexican-American Trinidad Vargas. “I’m proud of that, to be able to relate to them. [Ruiz] is pretty inspiring.”
Vargas was speaking to NPR from the U.S. Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, where he’s taking part in a boxing training camp. He’s one of this country’s up-and-coming fighters. He watched Ruiz win on Saturday and says beyond their similar heritage, they have similarities in size. Not weight, certainly. Vargas weighs only about 110 pounds. But at 5 feet, 5 inches, he’s small, just as Ruiz is relatively short for the heavyweight division. Vargas said he appreciates how Ruiz worked against the taller Joshua, and actually mimicked the tactics in his own fighting.
“I kind of did that today,” Vargas said, “because I had to spar a tall fighter and it worked pretty well with the double jabs, coming in [with] over the top [punches].”
Vargas said one of his best skills is copying styles of great fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Canelo Alvarez and Gervonta Davis.
He said he’ll keep copying Andy Ruiz, although only with boxing technique.
“I plan to stay light and cut,” Vargas laughed.
Mexican Government Privately Warns Trump Administration Of Countertariffs
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard attends a news conference with the Mexican delegation negotiating tariffs with U.S. officials on Monday in Washington, D.C.
Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images
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The Mexican government has employed a tone of friendship that’s averse to conflict, but Mexican officials behind the scenes are warning the Trump administration that they’re prepared to announce targeted countertariffs if the United States carries out threats of new tariffs on Mexican imports.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard met with State Department officials in Washington over the past 48 hours in an effort to find a solution to a tariff fight, which he later described as “counterproductive” and that would not decrease immigration.
Publicly, officials are saying they do not want to disrupt crucial supply chains, but those familiar with the talks say they are privately looking at imports that have political significance and are sent directly to Mexico for consumption.
The behind-the-scenes talks are part of a more public push led by Ebrard and other top Mexican officials who are warning their counterparts of disastrous consequences if President Trump carries out threats to impose 5% tariffs on June 10 as punishment for not curbing migration flows, according to two sources familiar with the talks.
“They’re going to have to delicately balance inflaming tensions even further, as this could be horrific for both countries, but particularly the Mexican economy,” said a former White House official familiar with the conversations. “But you can’t just roll over and play dead if you’re verbally attacked like this by a foreign government’s president. That doesn’t play well, domestically.”
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent Ebrard as well as Mexican Economy Minister Graciela Márquez and Agriculture Minister Victor Villalobos to Washington in search of a solution to avert the tariff battle.
On Monday, Mexican officials said Márquez was expected to meet with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and Villalobos met with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. There were also meetings planned with acting head of the Department of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Ebrard is expected to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday.
Some Republicans in key states that rely on a trade relationship with Mexico are warning Trump that he risks hurting U.S. interests.
“It’s important to remember that any actions that we take to secure our Southern border must also keep in mind the important role that Mexico plays in the economy of the United States,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “My state enjoys a strong relationship economically with Mexico because of that 1,200-mile common border.”
The Mexican team argues the best way to combat immigration is to invest in Central America, but the Trump administration wants Mexico to take stronger steps along its southern border, dismantle human smuggling chains and improve coordination on asylum.
The relationship between the United States and Mexico goes well beyond immigration.
Mexico is the U.S.’s third-largest trading partner. The two countries collaborate on everything from drug trafficking to human trafficking. The United States has invested more than $2 billion through the Mérida security initiative, and the Mexican government, after decades of hostility, is now allowing U.S. investment in its oil industry.
During a news conference Monday, Márquez expressed confidence in finding a diplomatic solution but said officials are evaluating the proper response if Trump carries out the tariffs.
“I cannot say that we’re are going to do the same [tariffs], because we have to make a strategic plan to take into account aspects of the commercial relationship,” Márquez said in Spanish. “We do not want to use tariffs to damage supply chains, job creation or investment.”
But Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China, said what Mexico can do that China did not is implement more strategic countermeasures as opposed to blanket tariffs.
As an example, he said Mexico could consider targeting Kentucky bourbon because of its political importance and ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. It is also shipped to Mexico for consumption but is not part of a supply chain like production of various auto parts that make several trips back and forth over the border as a car is built.
“Very simply,” Guajardo said, “Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-S.C.] said he supported President Trump’s tariffs. You can be first certain that Mexico is thinking [about what] South Carolina [is] exporting to Mexico. And that will be targeted as long as it’s not in a supply chain.”
