Andy Ruiz Jr suffered a nasty broken hand in a contentious draw with Jarrell Miller. Ruiz Jr was taking to the ring for the first time since beating Luis Ortiz in 2022, as he did battle with Anthony Joshua's bitter rival Miller in Los Angeles. But it was a nightmare return to the ring for Ruiz Jr, who was only able to draw with Miller as the fight went the distance. Many believed his rival had done enough to get the job done, but the judges scored the contest as a majority draw with Ruiz taking one scorecard while the other two read 114-114.
Ruiz Jr complained of a hand injury which he received in the fifth round, claiming it hampered his fight overall. It was a horrible shape as he showed it to the camera and his rival, as he will now likely face a lay-off having only just made his comeback. He said in the ring: “I hurt my hand and you can see the bone right here. It bothered me a lot from that fifth round where I kept hitting him in the head. “He’s a strong m***********, he keeps coming forward and forward. Let’s run it again.”
Fans were stunned, with one even claiming: “Wow that's horrendous, it doesn't even look real.” Ruiz Jr needed a big statement against a familiar name, who he famously replaced to beat Anthony Joshua in sensational fashion to become unified champion in 2019.
The opening exchanges began at a much slower pace than in the previous fight between Jared Anderson and Martin Bakole, with the Mexican looking to work away an early ring rust. Things caught fire at the end of the opener, with Miller’s game plan clearly to land the big right hand which he started to wind up as the second round began.
Miller tried to assert his height and size advantage early on and he did so with a big right hand hitting the target in the second, but his rival overall looked on top as he started to flex his superior hand speed. The American’s corner urged him to go to the body, and both men started to try and open up in a real centre-ring slug-fight with neither fighter relying on fluid movement.
Ruiz Jr was on top due to his superior output, but Miller turned the tide with a solid fifth round as he switched the momentum and even appeared to rock the former champion as the bell sounded. It took a significant toll on Ruiz Jr, who appeared winded and starting to feel the pace as Miller took charge when the clock ticked over to the midway point.
Swelling started to load on the right eye of the crowd favourite, as Miller continued to pepper away with the clubbing right hand and a stiff jab. Ruiz Jr needed a second burst having been on the back foot since dominating the opening four periods, but he continued to look fatigued with four rounds to go.
Miller wasn’t quite seizing the initiative and kicking open the door however, with Ruiz Jr competitive despite his clear tiredness. The fight was trundling towards the judges’ scorecards, with both fighters failing to assert their total dominance as the added weight sapped their energy.
A tense final round came with both fighters trying to unload the tank in the final three minutes, with chants of ‘Andy’ coming from the stands as the crowd came to life. But despite throwing more shots, Ruiz Jr was unable to capitalise and Miller landed the more eye-catching punches as the bell sounded for the conclusion of the bout.
Despite the American seemingly having done enough, the pair couldn’t be separated and a rematch appears to be on the cards. Ruiz Jr said: “I think it was close. It was crazy man. I haven’t fought in two years, but lets do a rematch. “It’s pretty exhausting when you’ve got a 300lb man coming towards me. Throwing and throwing. I think I did pretty good after not fighting in two years.”
He will now need to heal his hand, and Miller seems keen on taking on American rival Anderson, who also suffered defeat on Terence Crawford’s undercard. Get the latest fight news, reaction and the best opinion from talkSPORT pundits in our Boxing WhatsApp channel. Follow our Boxing channel HERE. This service is provided on talkSPORT Ltd's Terms of Use in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
LOS ANGELES – Andy Ruiz started strong but faded late. Unfortunately, Jarrell Miller was not able to capitalize on it. Ruiz and Miller fought to a majority decision draw Saturday night before a partisan crowd at the BMO Stadium. One judge scored the bout 116-112 for Miller, while the other two judges scored the bout 114-114. Miller, who resides in Brooklyn, New York, goes to 26-1-2, 22 knockouts. Ruiz’s record now stands at 35-2-1, 22 KOs.
After a dull start, towards the end of Round 1, Ruiz landed a right-left combination to the head that stunned Miller. The bell sounded before Ruiz was able to follow up. In Round 2, Ruiz stuck out jabs to the body of Miller in an attempt to set up a cross to the head. With about a minute left in the round, Miller connected with a right cross of his own, snapping back the head of Ruiz.
Miller continued stalking Ruiz early on, hoping to land one punch, but he was cognizant of Ruiz’s hand speed, particularly with left-right combinations to the head. Andy Ruiz had a lot of early rounds success vs. Jarrell Miller. Photo by Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing Miller finally let his hands go more in Round 4. Miller stalked Ruiz, dialing in to throw and land right hands to the head. Ruiz countered by connecting straight and counter right hands to the body of Miller.
About midway through Round 5, Miller landed a series of left hooks to the body of Ruiz. Miller followed up with a hard left hook to the head that momentarily stunned Ruiz. Miller continued his onslaught, even landing a barrage of punches that shook Ruiz as the bell sounded to end the round. Miller continued to focus his attack to the body, following up with a hook or cross to the head of Ruiz, who looked gassed. Miller walked Ruiz down, letting his hands go in spurts. While he was winning rounds during the second half of the fight, Miller was not as active as he could have been, considering how exhausted Ruiz was.
Ruiz had a decent start to Round 9, but Miller dominated the last half of the fight, backing Ruiz in a corner and battering him to the head. Miller continued to focus his attack to the body during Rounds 10 and 11, but he also landed to Ruiz’s head. Jarrell Miller got the better of Andy Ruiz over the second half of their 12-round bout. Photo by Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing Ruiz attempted to fight in spurts. The punches that did connect had little effect on Miller. Sensing he was down in the fight, Ruiz let his hands go. The second wind allowed him to throw and land looping right crosses to the head, but Miller dug to the body with left hooks to the body.
After the fight, Miller, who was stopped by Daniel Dubois in his previous fight on December 23, stated he thought he did enough to win. “I know I did enough to win,” said Miller. “I threw more punches. I had him backing up the entire fight. It’s called effective aggression. I kept the pressure on and I hit him with the more effective punches. I had the fight in the bag.”
Ruiz admitted he hurt his right hand during the fight. Images of Ruiz’s right hand looked as though it looked fractured or dislocated. “I haven’t fought in two years and I’d love to have a rematch here at the BMO Stadium,” said Ruiz. “I thought I did pretty good. My right hand started hurting me in the fifth round.”
Ruiz, who resides in Imperial, California, had not fought since September 2022 when he defeated Luis Ortiz by unanimous decision. The 34-year-old won the unified world heavyweight title in June 2019, stopping Anthony Joshua. Ironically, he took the Joshua fight on short notice after Miller had to withdraw from the fight after testing positive for banned substances. Ruiz would lose the rematch against Joshua six months later. Preliminary action
In a clash of unbeaten middleweights, Steven Nelson dropped Marcos Vazquez twice en route to a fifth round knockout victory. Nelson improved to 20-0, 16 KOs. Nelson, who resides in Omaha, Nebraska and is a stablemate of Terence Crawford, focused his attack to the body of the southpaw Vazquez, who attempted to counter with hands and rights to the head.
Less than a minute left in round three, Nelson dropped Vazquez with a right hand to the head. Vazquez beat the count, but began to look worse for wear. His nose was bleeding, likely from a straight right to the head that connected earlier in the round. Vazquez’s punch output dropped with each passing minute. Late in the round, Vazquez was hurt by a combination thrown by Nelson that almost dropped him to the canvas.
In round five, Nelson backed Vazquez against the ropes and landed a left uppercut to the head, dropping Vazquez to one knee. Referee Ray Corona immediately waved the fight over at 50 seconds. Vazquez, who resides in Tijuana, Mexico, falls to 20-1-1, 10 KOs
In the opening bout of the Riyadh Season card, welterweights Ziyad Almaayouf (5-0-1, 1 KOs) of Saudi Arabia and Poland’s Michal Bulik (6-7-1, 2 KOs) fought to a majority decision draw. One judge scored the bout 59-55 for Almaayouf, while the other two judges scored the bout 57-57. Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected] Follow @FSalazarBoxing READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE RING FOR FREE VIA THE NEW APP NOW. SUBSCRIBE NOW TO ACCESS MORE THAN 10 YEARS OF BACK ISSUES. Top 6 Pound for Pound Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. Hi, what are you looking for? Terence crawford decisions a skillful Israil Madrimov Jose Valenzuela Dethrones Isaac Cruz Andy Ruiz – Jarrell Miller SLug Their Way to a draw Martin Bakole stops Jared anderson in five Can Big Baby Make A comeback? Eddie Hearn On Spence-Crawford: “I Think It Does Great Numbers, 500,000 – 600,000” Elijah Garcia Stops Amilcar Vidal In Four WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman On A Fury-Usyk Fight: “This Is A Perfect Time To Do A Unification,” Inoue Powers Through Donaire In Two Joet Gonzalez speaks candidly on fighting in someone else’s backyard again, lessons learned, and unsatisfied fight fans Featured 2 Headlines Featured 2 Headlines Featured 2 Headlines Featured 2 Headlines Featured 2 Headlines By Published Flipboard Reddit Pinterest Whatsapp Whatsapp Email By: Sean Crose Both Andy Ruiz and Jarrell Miller had a lot on the line when they stepped into the ring in Los Angeles to square off on Saturday. Both men were seen as having underachieved since 2019, and neither man was getting any younger. Yet both fighters were also excellent, hard hitting combatants. If they truly meant business on Saturday, they might well have given the fans at the BMO Stadium and at home watching on pay per view a real show. And that they did. The bout was scheduled for twelve rounds.
The first round was a slow affair until the end, when each man began to fire in earnest at the other. Ruiz may have gotten the better of his man, but it was a close chapter nonetheless. Ruiz outlanded Miller in the second, but it was Miller who landed the cleanest shot – a right to Ruiz head. With that in mind, Ruiz once again outpunched Miller in the third. Miller, however, did get to Ruiz body during the round.
Miller continued to work the body well in the fourth, but Ruiz was sill able to put his hand speed and combinations to good use. Miller won the fifth – perhaps his first such win of the night. His body shots we’re clearly leaving an impact on Ruiz – and he even seemed to rattle Ruiz with a head shot at the bell. Miller continued to work on his man in the sixth. Ruiz was still firing punches, but he looked drained. Ruiz didn’t perform badly in the seventh – but his punches had no juice, where Miller’s did.
Ruiz had a better eighth, but Miller came alive in the final seconds. Ruiz outlanded Miller in the ninth, but Miller landed well towards the round’s end. Miller threw more in the tenth, and was likely able to take the round because of that fact. A shoeshine at the end of the eleventh allowed Miller to seemingly take the round. Miller then went on to dominate the twelfth and final round.
The judges ruled the fight majority draw. *on a side note, Ruiz showed the cameras a clearly damaged hand after the fight had ended. iilana 08/04/2024 at 12:30 am Work from home and earn a respectable $60k a week, which is amazing considering that a year ago I was unemployed in a terrible economy. I always give God praise for honouring me with these rules, and now it’s my duty to practise anticipatory compassion and share it with everyone. Likewise, GOOD LUCK. Here is I begun═════►► http://Www.join.payathome9.com 탑플레이어포커 08/04/2024 at 6:18 am 탑플레이어 포커 머니상은 간편하고 빠른 거래 시스템으로 포커 머니 거래를 더욱 쉽게 만들었습니다. 지금 바로 탑플레이어 포커 머니상에서 편리한 거래를 경험하세요! https://youtu.be/_WIpuTMSI5w Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment * Name * Email * Website By: Sean Crose The Olympic Games in Paris have another major controversy on their hands – and this time the controversy comes courtesy the... By: Sean Crose Andy Ruiz was unquestionably the toast of boxing back in 2019. In fact, after shocking Anthony Joshua in Joshua’s American debut... By: Sean Crose “I feel good, ” says the one and only Terence Crawford on the eve of his junior middleweight ring debut. “I’m... By: Sean Crose He was one of the more interesting fighters on the heavyweight scene. A confident, outspoken New Yorker who could turn out... Copyright © 2020 ZoxPress Theme. Created by Candela Creative Marketing. Filed under: Neither Andy Ruiz Jr nor Jarrell Miller looked like real contenders tonight. Andy Ruiz Jr and Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller fought to a draw tonight on the Crawford vs Madrimov undercard. One judge scored the fight 116-112 for Miller, but was overruled by a pair of 114-114 cards for the majority draw. Bad Left Hook’s unofficial cards were 114-114 and 116-112 Miller. Miller (26-1-2, 22 KO) had probably his best showing in years, but it did come against a version of Ruiz (35-2-1, 22 KO) who hadn’t fought in two years, has only fought twice in nearly five years, and showed a diminished gas tank along with a clear and pretty rough injury to his right hand, which he says he sustained in the fifth round. Ruiz called Miller a “strong motherf—er” and said he’d like a rematch. Miller, of course, felt he deserved the win, and the live crowd did agree with him, for what it’s worth. He called boxing a “dirty game,” which is fairly rich all things considered. Check your inbox for a welcome email. Oops. Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again.
