Former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. underwent successful surgery on his right knee on Tuesday in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and he’s arranged to return to the ring in December, his team told ESPN Knockout.
Ruiz (34-2, 22 KOs), 31, was hoping to face Charles Martin in October, but he ultimately made the decision to undergo the surgery that he said had been delayed for years.
“He underwent surgery on his right knee, he had been struggling with that knee for about three years,” Andy Ruiz Sr. said. “He could not run very much, he could not do certain movements, he used gel to mitigate the pain, but it was not enough and he made the decision to get the procedure done, which was an arthroscopy. It was done by the same doctor who operated on Canelo [Alvarez], Pedro Lomeli Jaime.”
There’s a chance Ruiz won’t fight again until 2022, but Ruiz’s father said both the doctor and the physical trainer told him he could still make the December timeline.
Ruiz last fought in May, defeating Chris Arreola.
“They gave us hope that he would come back in December,” Ruiz Sr. said. “The physical trainer and the doctor told us that if everything goes well as it is now, then there is that possibility, but we will see when the time comes. For now we are happy that the surgery went well.”
Ruiz became the unified heavyweight champion of the world in June 2019 after scoring a seventh-round TKO triumph over Anthony Joshua in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport. Six months later, Ruiz lost the belts to Joshua in a rematch and ended his relationship with trainer Manny Robles to join Eddy Reynoso’s team.
