Andrés Ponce Ruiz Jr. vs. Luis Ortiz & Isaac Cruz vs. Eduardo Ramirez RBR.

I'd add Chagaev definitely, Povetkin and Wilder would have been very interesting too. Ortiz was almost 39, wasn't very active and was a clear B-side when he fought a much more experienced Wilder than the version who was about to fight his best southpaw at that point, Szpilka. Ortiz may well have been favoured over 7 of the top 10 in those days.

 

Ruiz was trying to close with a KO in that last round, Ortiz proved he's a smart fighter not to fall for that trick.

 

Ruiz just won 5/6 rounds on the cards, was given a fake second KD in the 2nd round and nicked a decision as the A-side against a 43.5 year old Ortiz with 2 brutal KO defeats and 6 KD's suffered in the last 4.5 years. Nobody thinks Ruiz's stock has gone up after this, the vast majority were picking him to win by KO.

Provided Wilder gets past Helenius he will obliterate Ruiz.

 

Orrtiz won the majority of the rounds where he stayed upright. He did that thorugh a combination of savvy outboxing, relying mostly on his jab and Ruiz Jr frankly taking some rounds off. Ortiz also put together a very nice 12th round effort.

Some people on this thread went so far as to suggest Ortiz had done enough to nick the decision, though I don't quite agree.

 

Charles Martin? What are you smoking man.

 

Well Ortiz in his 40's knocked Martin out so he's clearly better than the guy who lost to Kowniacki.

At least you don't think anymore that Whyte is better than Fury and will beat him.

 

It was a masterful performance from a fighter who - sadly and undeniably - is very much a member of the sport's "masters division" now.

 

Ruiz Jr is still not the guy you want to find across from you in a phonebooth. His hands are still fast. And heavy, too.

Sadly, though, his hands are not heavier than the rest of him. And my late father demonstrated better stamina at aged 95 running down the corridors of his nursing home in an effort to evade the orderlies than Andy did tonight. He should be known as "Andy the self-Destroyer" because his lack of discipline has made him his own worst enemy.

Ruiz Jr is likely to end up like Arreola - only paying attention to his fitness training once his abilities are past their best.

 

I don't think the low volume was due to Ruiz being out of shape. He was afraid of Ortiz catching him with big counters, so he threw very little and was reactive. A clue to this is how much he was conceding the pocket: have you ever seen Ruiz counterpunch on the back foot before? Ruiz got early KD's and knew he was the A-side, so that added to the degree that he played it safe.

 

He nearly lost to Charles Martin, losing every round apart from their last round, being dropped twice and including from a jab off Martin.