The 34-year-old Mexican American former heavyweight champion will fight Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller on August 3 in Los Angeles, per ESPN.
The fight will take place on the Terence Crawford–Israil Madrimov undercard presented by Riyadh Season, the first boxing event organized by Saudi Arabia outside the kingdom.
Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) will fight for the first time since September 2022, when he floored Luis Ortiz three times in a unanimous-decision victory.
Ruiz, who fights out of Southern California, landed his life-changing shot at then-champion Anthony Joshua in June 2019 when Miller failed a doping test.
Ruiz, 34, went on to lose his three heavyweight titles that December in the rematch, the first major boxing event in Saudi Arabia.
Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs) last competed in December when he was TKO‘ed in the 10th round by Daniel Dubois in Riyadh. The 35-year-old Brooklynite has been suspended twice during his boxing career for PED use and once during his kickboxing career.
The 32-year-old Mexican American boxer, a former heavyweight champion, will fight Luis Ortiz on September 4 in Los Angeles, according to ESPN.
The fight, which ESPN reported was signed in April, will be a PBC on Fox PPV event, sources said.
The fight will be Ruiz’s first in 15 months, and he’ll enter it with a new trainer for the second time in two fights. Ruiz is now training with Alfredo Osuna after he parted ways with Eddy Reynoso, sources said. Reynoso is best known as the trainer of boxing’s top star, Canelo Alvarez.
Ruiz (34-2, 22 KOs) became the first heavyweight champion of Mexican descent when he defeated Anthony Joshua via seventh-round TKO in June 2019, in a bout that was named ESPN‘s 2019 Upset of the Year. Six months later, Joshua regained his three heavyweight titles with a unanimous-decision victory over Ruiz in Saudi Arabia.
Ruiz admitted he was not in shape when he fought Joshua in the rematch. He weighed a career-high 283.5 pounds and was lethargic during the fight, in stark contrast to the first bout, when he weighed 268 and consistently beat Joshua to the punch with his lightning-quick hands.
The Southern Californian has fought just once since the rematch, a May 2021 decision win over Chris Arreola. Ruiz weighed 256 pounds for that bout but was surprisingly dropped in Round 2 and struggled at times during the first half before he took control.
Ruiz, ESPN’s No. 5 heavyweight, underwent surgery on his right knee in August and will now prepare for just his second fight since he lost his three titles to Joshua.
Ortiz, ESPN’s No. 8 heavyweight, has twice challenged for the WBC heavyweight title, and both times he was knocked out by Deontay Wilder. The 43-year-old was ahead on the scorecards in the November 2019 rematch when Wider scored the spectacular KO.
Since the setback, Ortiz (33-2, 28 KOs) has fought twice. The 43-year-old scored a first-round KO of journeyman Alexander Flores before he met Charles Martin on New Year’s Day 2022.
Ortiz was floored in the opening round and again in the fourth but rallied for a brutal stoppage in Round 6.
The winner of Ruiz-Ortiz will be in prime position for another heavyweight title shot next year. Tyson Fury holds one title, while Oleksandr Usyk and Joshua will meet in a rematch for three belts on August 20 in Saudi Arabia.
The 42-year-old Cuban professional boxer survived two knockdowns to score a sixth-round stoppage of Charles Martin in a heavyweight fight on Saturday night at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida.
Ortiz (33-2, 28 KOs) badly buckled Martin with an overhand left that left him dazed in the corner, and then Ortiz unloaded with a bundle of punches that sent Martin to one knee.
In a bizarre sequence, Martin’s left glove was tied up in the ropes after the knockdown until the referee freed him.
Martin (28-3-1, 25 KOs) withstood a tremendous amount of punishment before he was floored a second time. The 35-year-old St. Louis native beat the count, but the referee waved it off at 1:37 of Round 6. Martin, who was ahead 48-45, 48-45 and 47-46, protested the stoppage before walking over to Ortiz, who shoved him. They later embraced.
“I was definitely very focused for this fight; I was never worried,” said Ortiz, ESPN‘s No. 8 heavyweight through an interpreter. “Southpaw versus southpaw is a very difficult fight. In the end, intelligence won the fight.”
In the beginning, it was rocky for Ortiz. He was floored in the opening round after Martin connected with a left cross behind the ear and then again in Round 4 following a jab.
Both Ortiz and Martin boxed cautiously, seemingly wary of the other’s power, but the Cuban finally opened up in Round 6.
With the victory, Ortiz is in line for another meaningful fight in the stacked heavyweight division. His only two losses came inside the distance in title shots against Deontay Wilder, most recently a brutal one-punch knockout in November 2019.
But at 42, time is running out for Ortiz to finally win the heavyweight championship.
The 40-year-old Cuban professional boxer and heavyweight world titlist Deontay Wilder have made their long-expected rematch official, formally announcing that they’ll face off again on November 23 at the MGM Grand Garden Arenain Las Vegas.
The Premier Boxing Championsfight will headline a Foxpay-per-view card.
For Wilder (41-0-1, 40 Kos), who will be making his 10th title defense, retaining his belt is the final hurdle to a much-anticipated rematch with lineal champion Tyson Fury, whom he fought to a disputed draw in December at Staples Center.
If Wilder comes through against Ortiz, Wilder-Fury II is slated to take place on February 22 in a joint ESPN/Fox pay-per-view event in Las Vegas.
On paper, at least, Ortiz looms as a far greater risk to Wilder than Wallin was supposed to be to Fury.
“When I fought Ortiz, not only did he have the pedigree, but also he had the classification of being the boogeyman of the division,” Wilder said. “I agree with those who say that Luis Ortiz was my toughest fight to date. No one wanted to fight him and they still don’t. In the rematch there’s more confidence and more motivation to do what I have to do. I’ve already seen the style before. It’s going to make it more fun. I can’t wait to see how he tries to handle me when I’m at my best.”
Wilder said he was very ill going into their first fight yet still was able to prevail.
Although Wilder and Fury were close to finalizing an immediate rematch after their draw, Fury instead signed with Top Rankto have his fights on ESPN platforms.
Eventually, however, Top Rank and Premier Boxing Champions, which handles Wilder, worked out a two-fight deal for the rematch and a third fight.
However, Wilder and Fury would each take two interim bouts first. Wilder blew away mandatory challenger Dominic Breazealein the first round May 18, Fury did the same to Tom Schwarzin the second round June 15, and then Fury escaped from Wallin two weeks ago. Now Wilder-Fury II hangs in the balance on the outcome of Wilder-Ortiz II. Ortiz aims to ruin those plans.
“I have to give Deontay Wilder a lot of credit for taking this fight because it shows he has the heart of a true champion,” Ortiz said. “He is not at all scared to take a dangerous fight, because let’s be honest, this is the most dangerous fight for him. In my opinion, he’s the best heavyweight in the world until someone beats him, a nd that’s exactly what I’m going to do on November 23. ‘King Kong’ is coming to Las Vegas!”
Wilder first faced Ortizin March 2018 in what turned out to be a dramatic fight-of-the-year contender after a slow start over the first four rounds. Wilder knocked Ortiz down in the fifth round, then nearly got stopped during an Ortiz onslaught of punches in the seventh round before rallying for a punishing 10th-round knockout victory.
Ortiz (31-1, 26 KOs), a power-punching southpaw from Cuba fighting out of Miami, who has twice failed tests for performance-enhancing drugs, has won three fights in a row since the loss to Wilder, including on the Wilder-Fury undercard.
The fight will take place on the Terence Crawford–Israil Madrimov undercard presented by Riyadh Season, the first boxing event organized by Saudi Arabia outside the kingdom.
