“That’s something that I told Eddie Hearn. ‘Eddie Hearn, if I sign with Matchroom and with you, please give me the trilogy.’ That’s something that all my fans want to see. All my Mexican fans, and it can happen. It can happen,” Ruiz told the Mr. Verzace Podcast.
Since losing their December 2019 rematch, Ruiz has fought only three times, defeating Chris Arreola and Luis Ortiz before receiving a majority draw against Jarrell Miller in August 2024.
Knyba will be his first opponent in more than two years. The Polish heavyweight was stopped in three rounds by Agit Kabayel in January, so beating him will not establish Ruiz as a leading contender.
Hearn Already Gave Ruiz The Formula
Eddie Hearn left the trilogy available after the second fight but attached conditions to it. In March 2020, he said Joshua might face Ruiz again “if he keeps winning or if he’s still around.” He also questioned how the former champion would respond after making substantial money from their two fights.
“Who knows what Ruiz is going to do? He’s made a lot of money. Maybe he sails off into the sunset,” Hearn said at the time.
By October 2022, Hearn supplied an even clearer route. He said the trilogy was not among Joshua’s next two or three fights but added that beating Deontay Wilder would change the calculation.
The proposed Wilder fight later collapsed over money. Wilder’s team wanted a 70- 30 split, while Ruiz’s father demanded 50- 50. Wilder subsequently accused Ruiz of asking for as much as $25 million, although that figure was never established independently. The precise demands remain disputed, but Ruiz lost the fight that could have returned him to the front of the division.
No comparable opportunity followed. Ruiz remained out until the Miller draw and then disappeared for another two years.
Extended inactivity has also prevented Ruiz from showing any technical development since Joshua exposed his limitations in their rematch. Joshua stayed behind his jab, moved around the outside, and refused to trade combinations at close range. Ruiz followed him without cutting off the ring effectively and never forced Joshua into the exchanges he needed.
His three subsequent performances offer no solution. Arreola dropped him in the second round and hurt him again later. Ruiz defeated Ortiz largely because of three knockdowns, but the older Cuban still controlled long stretches from distance. Miller then pressured Ruiz into a physically draining fight in which he slowed before receiving a draw.
The hand injury against Miller was serious, but injuries have become part of Ruiz’s career rather than an isolated explanation. Sporadic training camps leave him rebuilding his conditioning every time he returns instead of sharpening the parts of his game that Joshua defeated.
A third meeting would therefore be sold almost entirely through memories of June 2019. Nothing in Ruiz’s recent performances suggests that the result would differ from the second fight.
Did The Joshua Money Remove His Ambition?
In the new interview, Ruiz admits that money, cars, fame, women, and partying caused him to neglect the Joshua rematch. It is impossible to separate the money he received from those fights from the decline in his activity.
Financial security gave him the freedom to stay away. Before beating Joshua, he was a hungry replacement accepting the opportunity of his career on short notice. After collecting two major purses, that urgency disappeared. Injuries and personal difficulties contributed, but neither explains the full seven-year pattern.
Hearn questioned in 2020 if Ruiz would remain committed after getting rich. His activity since then has largely supplied the answer.
Joshua Has More Valuable Opponents
The heavyweight division continued moving during Ruiz’s absence. Moses Itauma has become one of its leading young names, while Daniel Dubois built his position by stopping Joshua and continuing to face important opponents. Fans would rather see Joshua test Itauma or attempt to avenge the Dubois defeat than revisit a rivalry last active in 2019.
Older followers remember Ruiz’s stunning night at Madison Square Garden. Many younger fans have never watched him fight live. To that audience, he is simply another fighter, now 36, campaigning against a rebuilding opponent.
Beating Knyba must be the beginning of Ruiz’s rebuilding process, not the qualification for another Joshua payday. He says he wants to return in December. Following through and facing a leading contender would strengthen his case far more than repeatedly invoking the first Joshua fight.
There was enough time to force the trilogy into public demand. Staying active and beating Wilder or several top contenders would have made Ruiz difficult for Joshua and Hearn to ignore. Instead, he waited for one historic upset to retain its commercial power forever.
The rivalry is tied at one win apiece, but an unfinished score does not remain important when one fighter disappears. Ruiz did not lose his Joshua trilogy opportunity through bad luck. He allowed it to expire.
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