Boxing
REVEALED! ANDY RUIZ LIVES LUXURIOUS LIFE AFTER SENSATIONAL DEFEAT OF ANTHONY JOSHUA
It was a dramatic transformation for Mexican-American, Andy Ruiz Jr when he beat Anthony Joshua last June to claim four world boxing heavyweight titles.
According to Daily Mail, Ruiz Jr in his first moments of ecstasy shouted from inside the ropes at New York’s Madison Square Garden: ‘Mum, we don’t have to struggle any more.’
Senora Ruiz was wreathed in smiles as she waved back from ringside. Not only had her chubby kid, as he calls himself, rubber stamped his first five million but she and most of their many relatives had snaffled $10,000 each by backing him at 11-1.
The journey from a dusty border town to the wealth, which comes with being the first world heavyweight champion of Mexican origin was complete. Almost.
All that remained was a car ride. As soon as he arrived back home in Imperial in southern Californian he borrowed a flash convertible and drove down the main street through cheering crowds.
Back in his home town of Imperial, Ruiz was paraded through the streets to cheering crowds
A few days later
he went out and bought his own high-class means of transport. A white Rolls
Bentley.
Ruiz went out and bought his own high-class means of transport – a white Rolls Bentley
Cars are the status symbol of choice on both sides of the divide between Mexico and its economically distant neighbour. Ruiz also has a Porsche Panamera in his growing collection.
Those vehicles are
garaged now in the sprawling hacienda he has bought in mesquite scrubland on
the edge of town.
Ruiz’s new home includes a pool amid fountains along with tennis and basketball courts
No doubt his father advised him on the purchase. Andy Sr, a construction worker when he and his wife first immigrated to the US where Ruiz was born, has since bettered himself by ‘flipping’ houses.
That is the American term for buying properties and selling them on for a quick profit.
The 30-year-old Andy Jr’s new home includes the obligatory pool amid sparkling fountains along with tennis and basketball courts.
As well as more
than enough bedrooms to accommodate himself his wife and their five children in
addition to any friends and family wanting to stay over.
Ruiz visited the Mexican president’s residence, Los Pinos, to show off his four titles
He has also taken to giving tours of the estate to townsfolk who drive out to see how their hero is getting along. Luxurious his accommodations may be but this is not a champion who lives in an ivory tower.
Ruiz is a man of the people. In his heart, the Mexican people. Although grateful for all that America has given himself and his folks, it was the Mexican president’s residence, Los Pinos, to which he took his recently acquired WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts. Not the White House.
And although his dual citizenship is enhancing his earning power it is his fellow Mexicans to whom he is promising he will ‘do everything humanly possible to keep those belts for our country’ come Saturday’s rematch with Joshua in Saudi Arabia.
That has included improving his diet for the last three of the six months since he upended Joshua four times in seven rounds.
Although Ruiz still resembles that portly figure who shocked the world having been bred from boyhood on Snickers bars and such delicacies as his mother’s pollo mole, a traditional dish of roast chicken smothered in fiery chocolate.
So ‘chubby’ was he as a boy that his nickname’ Destroyer’ was given to him by his father not for the boxing for which he took this hyper lad to the gym at the age of six but because of the way he blundered about the house like a young bull smashing the china.
In fact, despite the knocking over of Joshua and a majority of his 34 opponents, that ring pseudonym belies the slickest of heavyweight fighting styles. He is surprisingly quick on his feet and even faster with his fists as he lets fly with rapid-fire combinations.
Even his record is slightly deceptive. The one defeat was recorded in his only previous world title fight but most observers believe he was robbed by scandalous hometown scoring in New Zealand in favour of Joseph Parker.
Ruiz left nothing to chance against Joshua and is so confident of doing so again that he risked inflaming our AJ’s wrath by accusing him to his face on television of quitting in the first fight.
The ultimate boxing insult, even though he said it with the smile, which typifies the sunny nature of this happy man.
Andy Ruiz is enjoying himself and expects to do so again in the extraordinary temporary arena erected by the Saudis in double-quick time for the rematch beside the ancient ruins of historic Diriyah.
We will see what Anthony Joshua has to say about that.
U.S. immigration authorities have arrested Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Los Angeles and plan to deport him, they said on Thursday, just days after he lost a high-profile bout to American rival Jake Paul.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Chavez was determined to be in the country illegally last week after he made fraudulent statements on a 2024 application for permanent residence. He is married to a U.S. citizen, it said.
Michael Goldstein, a lawyer for Chavez, said more than two dozen immigration agents arrested the boxer at his home in the Studio City area of Los Angeles on Wednesday.
“The current allegations are outrageous and appear to be designed as a headline to terrorize the community,” Goldstein said.
Homeland Security said that the 39-year-old boxer, son of Mexican world champion fighter Julio Cesar Chavez, is suspected of ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, which Washington has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. speaks at press conference in anticipation of his fight against Jake Paul at Avalon Hollywood Theater. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images/File Photo
His wife, Frida Munoz Chavez, was previously married to the son of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison. The son, Edgar, was assassinated in 2008.
Chavez is the target of a Mexican arrest warrant on allegations of involvement in organized crime and firearms trafficking, DHS said.
In Mexico, Chavez’ family said in a statement they “fully trust in his innocence.”
Chavez lost to influencer-turned-boxer Paul, 28, last weekend before a sold-out crowd in Anaheim, California, in a unanimous decision after 10 rounds.
He was allowed to enter the United States temporarily in early January under former President Joe Biden, DHS said. He had previously overstayed a tourist visa, it said.
The agency said Chavez was convicted in Los Angeles in 2024 on weapons charges. Goldstein denied he was convicted, saying he pleaded not guilty and was granted mental health diversion which will result in dismissal of the charges.
Chavez won the WBC middleweight championship in 2011, but lost the title the next year.
His career has been overshadowed by controversies including a suspension after testing positive for a banned substance in 2009 and a fine and suspension after testing positive for marijuana in 2013.
His record stands at 54 wins, six losses and one draw, with 34 knockouts.
Reporting by Brendan O’Brien and Bhargav Acharya, Lizbeth Diaz, Angelica Medina, Diego Ore and Kylie Madry in Mexico City, Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot
-Reuters
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Manny Pacquiao will come out of retirement to face Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight championship on July 19 in Las Vegas, the 46-year-old Filipino boxer said on Wednesday.
Pacquiao is the only boxer to win world championships in a record eight weight divisions while he was also the oldest welterweight world champion in history at the age of 40 in 2019.
A Filipino senator from 2016 to 2022, Pacquiao had retired from boxing in 2021 while he also ran for president in 2022.
“I’m back. On July 19, I return to the ring to face WBC Welterweight Champion Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Let’s make history,” Pacquiao wrote on Instagram.
The southpaw, who has 62 wins, eight losses and two draws in a 72-fight career, was also elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025.
Barrios, a Mexican-American boxer, has 29 wins in 32 bouts, winning 18 by knockout and losing twice.
-Reuters
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The body of Segun Olanrewaju, the Nigerian boxer who slumped and died in the ring in Ghana on Saturday is still in a mortuary in Ghana. The President of the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBB of C), Dr Rafiu Oladipo, informed Sports Village Square that an autopsy will be conducted on Wednesday.
He said that the NBB of C is closely monitoring the events in Ghana, even as the Director General of the National Sports Commission, Bukola Olopade has asked for updates on the sad incident.
On Monday, a delegation of the NBB of C visited the family of the late boxer in Sango Otta in Ogun State. Oladipo said he was still in shock at the death of the boxer who he considered fit having fought last December 29.
He revealed that one of the members of the Nigerian delegation to Ghana stayed behind to follow up on the autopsy.
He narrated that the late boxer took part on Thursday in the mandatory weigh-in which is normally conducted 24 hours before a fight. Additionally, a medical check-up is also to be conducted.
“But in this instance, there was no medical check. On this ground, Oladipo blamed the Ghana Boxing Authority.
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