Andy Ruiz Jr seeks rematch after defeat to Damian Knyba

Andy Ruiz Jr insists his story is not over. Not yet.

Seven years after shaking the sport to its core by ripping Anthony Joshua’s world titles from him in New York, the former unified heavyweight champion returned to the US East Coast on Saturday night looking for a fresh start. Instead, at the Prudential Center in Newark, he ran into a towering, disciplined Damian Knyba and the harsh reality of a long, injury-riddled layoff.

Ruiz, 36 now and fighting for just the fourth time since losing the Joshua rematch in December 2019, looked like a faded echo of the whirlwind that stunned Madison Square Garden. The hands were still quick in flashes, the instincts still there, but the rhythm and sharpness that once separated him from the division’s plodders never truly arrived.

Knyba, the 6ft 7in Pole with youth and momentum on his side, kept it that way.

He boxed to a clear, calculated plan, using his size, reach and clinching to smother Ruiz whenever the former champion tried to close the distance. Ruiz complained that every time he stepped in, Knyba grabbed and held. From the ringside seats, it looked like exactly the kind of ugly, effective work you use to blunt a shorter, explosive counterpuncher.

The fight’s defining moment came in the seventh. Ruiz, already struggling to impose himself, was sent crashing to the canvas. He beat the count and scrambled upright, but his legs betrayed the years away. The bell came as his ally, sparing him from further punishment and giving him the chance to regroup.

He survived, but he never quite turned the tide.

When the final bell rang, the scorecards reflected both Knyba’s control and Ruiz’s stubbornness. One judge had it wide at 117-110. The other two came back with 114-113, all three in favour of Knyba, who moves to 18 wins and one defeat and, more importantly, adds the scalp of a former world champion to his record.

Ruiz, now working with British promoter Eddie Hearn, did not accept the night as any sort of final verdict on his career. He bristled at the manner of the defeat, pointing to Knyba’s holding and his own ring rust after a first outing since a draw with Jarrell Miller in August 2024.

“It was just a long layoff, and it was a great opponent,” he said, framing the choice of Knyba as a deliberate risk. He could have taken a softer touch. He didn’t. “I didn't want to take an easy fight, so that's why I took Damian. He's a big guy. But we've got to take risks. I've still got it in me, man. I've just got to stay active and I want to fight again.”

There was no talk of retirement, no hint of a farewell tour. Instead, almost as soon as the decision was read, Ruiz’s mind went to a second meeting.

He wants the rematch. He wants another crack at the man who just outworked him and dropped him. He wants the chance, as he put it, to “run it back and do things a lot different.”

Whether the heavyweight landscape will wait for him is another question. The division moves quickly at the top and brutally at the fringes. Knyba, with this win, steps forward into that conversation. Ruiz, battered by time and inactivity as much as by punches, must now prove he still belongs in it.