![]() ![]() It's being strong to not let a situation defeat you. Trainer Manny Robles adds: "Boxing is like life. ![]() "He was depressed sometimes not fighting," recalls his father. He will pocket over double that figure on Saturday. A win over Alexander Dimitrenko paid $200,000 in 2019 and paved the way for him to take on Joshua at short notice when the Briton's scheduled opponent Jarrell Miller failed drug tests. Ruiz went the full calendar year without fighting and was almost done with the sport.įate decreed otherwise. Whatever I told him, he believed."Īnd there were times in 2017 when that encouragement was key. "He looks up to me," says 58-year-old Ruiz Sr. The bond between the pair is obvious at an open workout in Saudi Arabia. I bought a nice car for him when he was young but I didn't try to give everything to him - he had to work for things." "I told him 'do you want boxing or to mix cement?' "He was mixing cement," says Ruiz Sr, who arrived in the US from Mexico aged eight. Relive Ruiz's sensational upset of Joshua in June.Saudi royal wants Ruiz-Joshua ring as souvenir. ![]() I'm here to win - Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr face the media before their rematch Life has changed out of all recognition since the days when Ruiz worked for his dad, who runs his own property development business. "It was a case of how quickly we could stop the rubbish and say 'Andy, you want more money don't you?'" says Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn. Contractually he was obligated but his refusal to fight in Cardiff and, for a time, Saudi Arabia led to a fairly common boxing solution - money. There have been new gold and diamond chains, and in the words of the champion himself, "fun things I always wanted".īut if his father wants evidence that his son can be sensible about finances, Ruiz did dig his heels in when a rematch with Joshua was called. The man ridiculed for his rotund physique has even started modelling for a menswear brand. Ruiz has met the president of Mexico, he has been interviewed by US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, he has thrown out the first pitch at a Los Angeles Dodgers game and he has been paraded on the back of a convertible Rolls Royce through the city he grew up in. If the cars or his lavish California home and its swimming pool are symbolic of a changed life, so too is the increased demand for the Mexican-American fighter. Ruiz's new-found celebrity has seen him meet the president of Mexico and be interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel - as well as funding his car habit The 30-year-old recently bought a Mercedes G550 jeep - a car that sells for over $100,000 - and as cameras filmed him pulling on to his driveway he simply said with a smile, "another one". The advice, at least on car purchases, did not stick. "Like a father, I told him to stay humble - don't spend the money, invest it in houses," Ruiz Sr tells BBC Sport. Or that Ruiz will earn more than $10m in Saturday's rematch in Saudi Arabia. No matter that he had paid $1m cash for a new home. No matter that a car for his mother Felicitas had been the newly crowned heavyweight champion of the world's first purchase after he dethroned Britain's Anthony Joshua in July, or that he has since bought his dad a new truck. "I said, if anything, buy a Rolls Royce and rent it out, make money. ![]()
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