Former unified world heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz scored three knockdowns against two-time world title challenger Luis Ortiz but failed to take out the highly durable Cuban who in fact was still dangerous and still in the fight in the final 12th round at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles Sunday night (Monday in Manila). In the end Ruiz came out on top from the judges' scorecards:
Fernando Villareal had it 113-112, Eddie Hernandez and Zachary Young had it 114-111 all in favor of Andy Ruiz.
Ruiz dropped Ortiz twice in the second round and tried to close the fight in that canto but Ortiz connected with lethal lefts of his own towards the end of the round that stopped Ruiz in his tracks. Ruiz scored another knockdown in the 7th round but the big story was how the 43-year-old Ortiz survived the ordeal and in fact was never out of the fight by using his great boxing skill to put the younger Ruiz at bay throughout the night.
Ruiz who improves his record to 35-2-0, 22KOS is track in his mission to recapture the heavyweight titles he held briefly by his upset victory over Anthony Joshua in 2019 that Joshua won back during their rematch six months later.
Ortiz at 43 seems to still be a threat in the division as he showed what he was capable of tonight against Ruiz. Ortiz absorbed only his second loss and dropped his record to 33-2-0, 28KOS.
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