Andy Ruiz Jr makes his ring return on August 3 against Jarrell Miller at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The 12-round bout is featured on the PPV card topped by Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov. The former unified heavyweight champion looks to go through his next opponent and face old rival Joseph Parker in a rematch.
Ruiz Jr (35-2, 22 KOs) of Imperial, California last fought in September 2022, when he scored a unanimous decision against Luis Ortiz and earned his second win in a row. The 34-year-old former unified WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion fought Joseph Parker back in December 2012 and dropped a majority decision.
Former WBO heavyweight champion Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) is riding a five-fight winning streak. The 32-year-old native of Auckland, New Zealand defeated Zhilei Zhang by MD in March and earned a unanimous decision against Deontay Wilder last December.
“For me next it’s Jarrell Miller. God willing we get that win and hopefully I’d love to run it back with Joseph Parker,” Andy Ruiz Jr said. “I’d love to get that rematch. Of course I rate Jarrell Miller. Any fighter inside that ring is dangerous. You can’t underestimate nobody. We’ve got to be prepared. We’ve got to be ready for whatever comes our way. We’ve just got to get that win.”
“The main thing is just getting the victory, getting back in action and getting ready to fight those big boys. Me personally I would like to have two fights, against people that are in the top ten or top fifteen. I’ll fight against anyone else after this fight. I just want to fight the top guys man. Joseph Parker is doing amazing things right now. He beat Wilder and he beat Zhang. I’d love to fight him too.”
“I had a lot of rollercoasters and a lot of up and downs over the years since my last fight against Luis Ortiz. I had surgery on my shoulder. I had some ‘baby mumma’ drama but guess what? I’m back, I’m ready to go and I’m ready to become and two-time heavyweight champion of the world.”
Going through the ropes for the first time in over a year and a half, Ruiz Jr faces Jarrell Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs) of Brooklyn, New York. In his previous outing last December, the 36-year-old heavyweight was stopped in the 10th round by Daniel Dubois and suffered his first career defeat.
“I think it’s a good fight for me,” Ruiz Jr said. “Especially because I haven’t been in the ring for 18 months and for my shoulder. I’m not saying he’s something light or he’s an easy fight, because all fights are hard. You can’t underestimate nobody. I think this is the perfect fight for my comeback.
“Back in the day he did call me out. We were in Detroit, I just got done winning this fight, he went up the ring and he wanted to fight me. I was like, ‘you know what, let’s do it right now, let’s do it, I’ll put on the gloves and we’ll get it on’. After the years passed we actually became, I don’t want to say super good friends, but we kind of became friends.
“We’re friends outside of the ring but inside the ring it’s business. Jarrell; it’s time man, it’s time buddy. It’s time to get back in the ring. I’ve seen what you did over there in Saudi Arabia, and now I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do man. It’s all business, nothing personal. Let’s get it.”
In the main event, Omaha’s undefeated three-division world champion Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) challenges Indio-based unbeaten WBA light middleweight champion Israil Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) of Uzbekistan. In the co-main event, Isaac Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) defends his WBA super lightweight title against fellow-Mexican Jose Valenzuela (13-2, 9 KOs).