Updated

Updated · BBC.com · Sep 5

Damian Knyba Beats Andy Ruiz Jr by Unanimous Decision, Dropping Ex-Champion to 3rd Loss

Updated

Updated · BBC.com · Sep 5

Damian Knyba Beats Andy Ruiz Jr by Unanimous Decision, Dropping Ex-Champion to 3rd Loss

Q: Was Knyba’s monumental upset fueled by pure skill, or did excessive holding sabotage Andy Ruiz’s final shot at glory?

Knyba’s upset was driven far more by effective boxing than by holding. Across 12 rounds, the decisive pattern was clear: Knyba used his 6-foot-7 frame, long reach, and persistent jab to control distance and deny Ruiz the exchanges he wanted. Multiple reports describe Ruiz struggling to find rhythm from the opening rounds, while Knyba piled up points with outside boxing and then produced the fight’s biggest moment in the seventh, hurting Ruiz with a right-left combination and scoring the knockdown that proved crucial on the two 114-113 cards. Ruiz’s complaint is not baseless. By his own account, every time he tried to get inside, Knyba tied him up, and observers noted that Knyba did hold at times. That likely disrupted Ruiz’s combination punching, which has always been his best weapon. But the broader evidence suggests the holding was a secondary factor, not the main reason Ruiz lost. Independent fight coverage overwhelmingly pointed to Knyba’s jab, movement, and ring control as the real story. Even commentary sympathetic to Ruiz’s frustration said it would be hard to blame the result primarily on clinching. Ruiz had success in rounds eight and nine, showing he could still reach Knyba when he closed the gap, but he could not sustain that pressure. His long layoff, age, and inability to cut the ring consistently mattered just as much, if not more. So this was less a stolen opportunity than a disciplined tactical win by Knyba over a rusty former champion who had too few answers.

3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Sep 5

Three judges gave Damian Knyba a unanimous decision over Andy Ruiz Jr in Newark, scoring it 117-110, 114-113 and 114-113 after Ruiz’s first fight in two years.
A seventh-round knockdown proved pivotal, with Ruiz scrambling up before the bell and later blaming Knyba’s holding and his own ring rust after a long layoff.
Ruiz, 36, said he wants an immediate rematch and insisted he still has more to give after taking what he called a risky fight instead of an easier return.
The defeat leaves the former heavyweight champion at 35-3-1, extending a decline that has seen him fight only four times since losing his 2019 rematch with Anthony Joshua.