Andy Ruiz Jr Vows to Fight On After Upset Loss to Damian Knyba

Andy Ruiz Jr says he's not done. The former unified heavyweight champion dropped a unanimous decision to Poland's Damian Knyba over the weekend, an upset that came in his first bout since a 2024 draw with Jarrell Miller and his debut under Eddie Hearn's Matchroom banner. Ruiz, 36, entered the ring the lightest he's been since 2018 — and left it needing to rethink his path back to the title picture.

This wasn't supposed to be the storyline. Ruiz was heavily favoured against a 30-year-old who was coming off a third-round stoppage loss to WBC champ Agit Kabayel (27-0, 19 KO) back in January. But the 6ft 7in Knyba dropped Ruiz in the seventh and outworked him across large stretches of the 12-round fight to earn the nod on all three cards.

Rust and Reality

Speaking to DAZN afterward, Ruiz pointed to the long layoff and stressed he'd deliberately avoided a soft touch, choosing Knyba precisely because it was a live test. He insisted he still has it in him and wants to stay active. Given he'd fought exactly once in the roughly two years before this, that's not a small admission — inactivity has a way of showing up on the scorecards.

To his credit, Ruiz did well to survive the knockdown and drag the fight to the final bell rather than folding. That's the version of him worth remembering: durable, dangerous in flurries, hard to put away. The problem was volume. Knyba's height and reach let him tick over the busier man, and over 12 rounds activity wins arguments.

What Comes Next

The name that still defines Ruiz's career is Anthony Joshua, whom he stopped in the seventh round of their 2019 shocker. Joshua (29-4, 26 KO) has since moved in his own strange directions — his most recent win came against Jake Paul by sixth-round knockout — but the ghost of that upset is what Ruiz wants to chase back toward.

For now, the comeback needs a reset. Ruiz says he intends to keep fighting and rebuild through activity, which is exactly the medicine a 36-year-old with rust and a fresh promotional deal needs. Whether Matchroom lines up a rebuild or another gamble will tell us how seriously both sides still fancy his run at a second title reign.