Andy Ruiz and Jarrell Miller fought to a draw their 12-round contest at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Picture by Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing/Getty Pictures
LOS ANGELES – Andy Ruiz began robust however pale late. Sadly, Jarrell Miller was not capable of capitalize on it.
Ruiz and Miller fought to a majority choice draw Saturday evening earlier than a partisan crowd on the BMO Stadium. One choose scored the bout 116-112 for Miller, whereas the opposite two judges scored the bout 114-114.
Miller, who resides in Brooklyn, New York, goes to 26-1-2, 22 knockouts. Ruiz’s file now stands at 35-2-1, 22 KOs.
After a boring begin, in direction of the top of Spherical 1, Ruiz landed a right-left mixture to the pinnacle that surprised Miller. The bell sounded earlier than Ruiz was capable of comply with up. In Spherical 2, Ruiz caught out jabs to the physique of Miller in an try to arrange a cross to the pinnacle. With a couple of minute left within the spherical, Miller related with a proper cross of his personal, snapping again the pinnacle of Ruiz.
Miller continued stalking Ruiz early on, hoping to land one punch, however he was cognizant of Ruiz’s hand velocity, significantly with left-right mixtures to the pinnacle.
Andy Ruiz had loads of early rounds success vs. Jarrell Miller. Picture by Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing
Miller lastly let his arms go extra in Spherical 4. Miller stalked Ruiz, dialing in to throw and land proper arms to the pinnacle. Ruiz countered by connecting straight and counter proper arms to the physique of Miller.
About halfway by means of Spherical 5, Miller landed a sequence of left hooks to the physique of Ruiz. Miller adopted up with a tough left hook to the pinnacle that momentarily surprised Ruiz. Miller continued his onslaught, even touchdown a barrage of punches that shook Ruiz because the bell sounded to finish the spherical.
Miller continued to focus his assault to the physique, following up with a hook or cross to the pinnacle of Ruiz, who seemed gassed. Miller walked Ruiz down, letting his arms go in spurts. Whereas he was successful rounds in the course of the second half of the battle, Miller was not as energetic as he might have been, contemplating how exhausted Ruiz was.
Ruiz had an honest begin to Spherical 9, however Miller dominated the final half of the battle, backing Ruiz in a nook and battering him to the pinnacle. Miller continued to focus his assault to the physique throughout Rounds 10 and 11, however he additionally landed to Ruiz’s head.
Jarrell Miller obtained the higher of Andy Ruiz over the second half of their 12-round bout. Picture by Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing
Ruiz tried to battle in spurts. The punches that did join had little impact on Miller. Sensing he was down within the battle, Ruiz let his arms go. The second wind allowed him to throw and land looping proper crosses to the pinnacle, however Miller dug to the physique with left hooks to the physique.
After the battle, Miller, who was stopped by Daniel Dubois in his earlier battle on December 23, said he thought he did sufficient to win.
“I do know I did sufficient to win,” mentioned Miller. “I threw extra punches. I had him backing up the complete battle. It’s known as efficient aggression. I saved the strain on and I hit him with the simpler punches. I had the battle within the bag.”
Ruiz admitted he harm his proper hand in the course of the battle. Pictures of Ruiz’s proper hand seemed as if it seemed fractured or dislocated.
“I haven’t fought in two years and I’d like to have a rematch right here on the BMO Stadium,” mentioned Ruiz. “I believed I did fairly good. My proper hand began hurting me within the fifth spherical.”
Ruiz, who resides in Imperial, California, had not fought since September 2022 when he defeated Luis Ortiz by unanimous choice. The 34-year-old received the unified world heavyweight title in June 2019, stopping Anthony Joshua. Paradoxically, he took the Joshua battle on brief discover after Miller needed to withdraw from the battle after testing optimistic for banned substances.
Ruiz would lose the rematch towards Joshua six months later.
Preliminary motion
In a conflict of unbeaten middleweights, Steven Nelson dropped Marcos Vazquez twice en path to a fifth spherical knockout victory. Nelson improved to 20-0, 16 KOs.
Nelson, who resides in Omaha, Nebraska and is a stablemate of Terence Crawford, centered his assault to the physique of the southpaw Vazquez, who tried to counter with arms and rights to the pinnacle.
Lower than a minute left in spherical three, Nelson dropped Vazquez with a proper hand to the pinnacle. Vazquez beat the depend, however started to look worse for put on. His nostril was bleeding, doubtless from a straight proper to the pinnacle that related earlier within the spherical. Vazquez’s punch output dropped with every passing minute. Late within the spherical, Vazquez was harm by a mix thrown by Nelson that nearly dropped him to the canvas.
In spherical 5, Nelson backed Vazquez towards the ropes and landed a left uppercut to the pinnacle, dropping Vazquez to 1 knee. Referee Ray Corona instantly waved the battle over at 50 seconds.
Vazquez, who resides in Tijuana, Mexico, falls to 20-1-1, 10 KOs
Within the opening bout of the Riyadh Season card, welterweights Ziyad Almaayouf (5-0-1, 1 KOs) of Saudi Arabia and Poland’s Michal Bulik (6-7-1, 2 KOs) fought to a majority choice draw. One choose scored the bout 59-55 for Almaayouf, whereas the opposite two judges scored the bout 57-57.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has coated boxing in Southern California and overseas since 2000. Francisco additionally covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He may be reached at [email protected]
