Indeed. Didn't want to work with his natural gifts - he tried to change too much, too quickly on several occasions after Joshua 2 and never looked close to his best again... Laziness at times was part of it for sure, but also just a confusion caused by too much deviation from what worked for him.
He's basically wasted his prime by not fighting. Such a shame but maybe the motivation was lost after the AJ paydays.
What a beta male Andy has turned out to be. Who cheated on who? Either way he's the biggest disappointment since Panchito Bojado, probably bigger since he could have made quite a legacy with a movie like story.
Ruiz Jr is the poster boy to show that money ruins many people He will end up with less than he had before he won the title and money Broke with no family. Poor sod. AJ, Usyk and Fury have done really well with themselves considering although Fury's mental issues will haunt him to the grave.
It is not that he doesn't wan to train, he doesn't want to fight. If Ruiz could get into the best shape possible, he would still look like a fat slob. It is just his body type. He would look like a lesser slob in shape, but still look like a slob. The sad part of all this is that Ruiz can really fight.
He was always mediocre. He landed a counter while getting beat up and AJ quit when he had to fight through adversity while conquering America. If Ruiz never got that fill-in spot, he would have been a gatekeeper at best at HW. He actually belongs at LHW but is too disgusting to lose 60lbs of blubber. AJ lost to an obese LHW who never beat anyone of note besides AJ. And Ortiz at 45 doesn't count.
As long as he can get a fight paying decent money once a year, he won't put any effort into his career.
You can't price yourself out of a final eliminator, though. The split is set. The WBC just didn't make the next logical step and officially call for purse-bids between Wilder v Ruiz... It looks to me like he has been frozen out, or like most of the PBC fighters, Haymon couldn't afford to keep them active. I agree Wilder v Ruiz was the fight to make, neither had an advantage of activity over the other. Parker fought 4 times in 2023. But them are the breaks, that was Wilder's choice
How good is Ruiz anyway? He knows his ceiling and just lazily waiting for a promoter to come up with a good pay day for him which may never come. I'd say he will get desperate and take an offer sooner than later