Andy Ruiz seized his 15 minutes of fame, and he's hoping to stretch it like he stretched that Knicks jersey he pulled on after he won four world heavyweight titles Saturday night in Madison Square Garden.
Ruiz, a late-in-the-process fill-in who clearly weighs more than the listed 270 pounds, knocked out Anthony Joshua in a Buster Douglas-esque upset and won the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO title belts. He'd been booed into the ring but was cheered on a New York sidewalk when he exited the Garden, his pullover showing his paunch, after he knocked down Joshua four times. The bout was stopped in the seventh round.
Ruiz, 29 and from southern California, is the first fighter of Mexican descent to win a heavyweight title.
"I think it's going to do a lot for my community, for Mexico," Ruiz said. "Now they can say that they have the first Mexican heavyweight champion of the world. I'm just happy that it's me."
Joshua had knocked out 21 fighters in 22 victories and had never lost. Ruiz is 33-1, but the victories hadn't come against top-quality boxers, and he said he begged for the bout. "Give me this fight, I will fight harder than any of the names you've mentioned, I will give you a better fight and I will beat Anthony Joshua," he wrote to promoter Eddie Hearn on Instagram.
Now Joshua has become his role model as he prepares for an expected rematch.
"Now that I have this time, I want to get in shape and look like a Mexican Anthony," Ruiz said, laughing.
Women's College World Series
UCLA, Oklahoma reach final series
Rachel Garcia hit a three-run walkoff homer in the 10th inning and threw a shutout, driving UCLA past Washington 3-0 and into the championship series of the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
