Massive paychecks kept rolling in without Joshua. Ruiz collected lucrative pay per view main event money against Arreola and Luis Ortiz, enabling him to stay rich while keeping his schedule quiet. Arreola dropped him early, Ortiz forced him into sporadic bursts, and Jarrell Miller battered him down the stretch in August 2024 to force a draw.

Hurting his right hand against Miller offers little excuse for the decline. Ruiz has failed to deliver a commanding performance in four consecutive outings following his career-best win over Joshua. Camp insiders promise better conditioning and renewed focus before every return, yet the actual ring work routinely mocks the promotional rhetoric.

Atlas still ranks Ruiz as the superior technician heading into Friday at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Hand speed, punch resistance, and seasoned ring generalship all tilt toward the veteran. Atlas simply refuses to endorse Ruiz until the California heavyweight proves his appetite survived a lifestyle sustained entirely by past paydays.

“There is a window of opportunity for Knyba to use the reach, use the height, use his legs a little bit, and box on the outside. I’m curious to see if I’m going to think that Knyba is a little bit of a live dog at three-to-one. I ain’t laying it so fast because of those ifs,” Atlas said on THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas.

Thursday at the weigh in, Ruiz registered 254.3 pounds, his lowest official reading since 2018. The figure represents a 20.1 pound drop from the 274.4 pounds he carried into the ring against Miller. Ruiz admitted ballooning near 300 pounds during his long sabbatical, giving merit to camp reports detailing a drop of more than 40 pounds throughout training.

Trimming down looks clean for promotional cameras, though bathroom scales cannot measure actual fighting endurance. Ruiz has to demonstrate that shedding blubber revived his footwork rather than simply leaving him depleted. At 36, stripping off substantial weight after a long layoff rarely restores the blistering hand combinations of 2019.

Knyba suffered a three-round stoppage against Agit Kabayel in January, yet Ruiz brings an entirely different stylistic approach. Kabayel walked down the giant Polish contender, battering his ribs without intermission and stripping away room to punch or clinch.

Relentless body punching vanished from Ruiz’s arsenal years ago. The former unified king now hunts overhand rights, fires sudden hooks up top, and retreats to admire his handiwork. Hunting exclusively around Knyba’s earmuffs will allow the taller man to tie up the Californian, reset center ring, and establish his preferred distance.

Atlas spots that tactical trap immediately. Ruiz possesses the timing to counter over Knyba’s pole jab, yet single counterpunches accomplish little without persistent ring cutting. Following Knyba around the perimeter gives the underdog freedom to pile up points behind his natural reach.

Newark also gives Knyba an advantage Kabayel denied him in Germany, starting with genuine regional backing. Knyba trains locally and owns three victories inside Prudential Center. Northern New Jersey features a massive Polish population ready to turn the arena into a boiler room against a West Coast invader. This booking functions as a home game, not a neutral showcase.

Linking up with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom demands an emphatic statement. Heavyweight hardware is scattering across multiple sanctioning bodies, opening avenues for marketable names. That promotional reality explains why Ruiz commands big television slots at his age.

Laboring to an ugly points win will do zero favors for Ruiz’s marketability. Sputtering through a low-tempo struggle against Knyba merely proves the transformation stopped at the bathroom scale.

Atlas asks the proper question because the malaise has lingered for seven years. Friday reveals how much fight actually exists once Knyba forces Ruiz to work.

Shakur Stevenson is yet to announce an opponent for his Zuffa Boxing debut and one reigning world champion is claiming that he has been avoided by the WBO super-lightweight ruler.

Stevenson outclassed Teofimo Lopez to become a four-division world champion back in January, but the Newark southpaw hasn’t fought since, despite being linked to a host of names; including Devin Haney, Conor Benn, Raymond Muratalla and O’Shaquie Foster.

In fact, Foster was told by Stevenson that he could get his shot if able to defeat his good friend, Raymond Fordwhich he did back in May, prompting a post-fight face-off between he and Stevenson, only for talks to then go quiet.

In an interview with Fight Hub TVFoster explained why he believes the proposed battle makes Stevenson ‘nervous’.

“He don’t want to fight, we didn’t hear nothing, man. He don’t want me to end that gravy train that they got going on, he is going to take his chances somewhere else.

“For real though, Shakur saw me for a long time. Before me and him even started sparring, when we were staying together in Virginia, he saw me work. So, he know what I can do, he knows what I am capable of.

“Then on top of the sparring, Shakur has sparred everybody that he fought and everybody that he wants to fight, he got a beat on them.

“He couldn’t ever get a beat on me, so that is what I feel like it is, it makes him nervous.”

Instead, Foster – who holds the WBC super-featherweight world title – has now moved on to a fascinating three-belt super-featherweight world title unification against unified WBO and IBF 130lb champion, Emanuel Navarrete.

Continuing, Foster maintained that Stevenson will remain his target during the aftermath, potentially prioritising a clash with the pound-for-pound star over a possible undisputed title bout at super-featherweight.

“He came talking about, I need to get past Navarrete, he keep throwing everybody else’s name out there.

When I handle him [Navarrete] though, you come see me next.”

Navarrete-Foster will take place on Saturday, October 24, whilst the remaining super-featherweight title will be on the line when Anthony Cacace attempts to defend his WBA belt against Nick Ball on Saturday, December 19.

Stevenson, meanwhile, may well end up facing Raymond Muratalla, who recently vacated his lightweight title following previous talks of moving up to 140lbs to make the fight happen.

Tyson Fury has threatened to turn his attention to someone other than Anthony Joshua.

The saga surrounding the Fury and Joshua fight has been rumbling on for several months now.

The hold up, despite both men having signed contracts earlier this year, is a disagreement over where the fight should take place.

A proposed November 20 date is quickly approaching, so a resolution will have to be found very soon if it is to proceed, but it appears Fury is preparing a contingency plan.

Posting on social media‘The Gypsy King’ revealed that he won’t waste much longer on the Joshua clash, as he believes his long-term rival does not want to step through the ropes with him.

“One thing for sure is I won’t wait for a sausage who has been knocked spark out by Daniel Dubois for long.

“I’ve waited 10 years for this and I’ve been ready every single time. One thing I won’t be doing is wasting my later years at 38 year old with a freak who doesn’t want to fight.

“I will move on and there are plenty of world champions out there who do want to fight and do want to make some money so I’ll be giving them a knock. There are plenty of men.”

‘The Gypsy King’ then listed three current heavyweight champions that he would be willing to face it the ‘AJ’ fight does not materialise.

“Agit Kabayel, Hrgovic, Daniel Dubois, whoever else there is, they’re all very brave men and all looking for a few quid. Maybe I’ll give them a call and they can fight me in November as this is going nowhere.”

Kabayel was elevated to WBC champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated his titles earlier this year, while Hrgovic defeated Moses Itauma on Saturday to win the vacant IBF crown.

Hrgovic now looks set for a mandatory defence against Frank Sanchez next, while Dubois overcame Fabio Wardley in May to win the WBO strap, with the pair set to rematch in October.

It means that Kabayel would be the likely option if Fury does decide to move on from the Joshua fight, but fans will remain hopeful that the issues over the location can soon finally be resolved so the two Brits can meet.

Promoter Eddie Hearn, who represents Joshua, has said that there will be a resolution this week.

Though he has made it clear that their side wants the fight in the UK as per ‘AJ’s contract, Hearn has admitted that New York’s Madison Square Garden can happen if Saudi Arabia’s Sela sign an addendum.