Eddy Reynoso is Ready to Revive Andy Ruiz's Career

“Boxing is a very hard sport. You lose friends. You win enemies. But nobody takes the pride away from you from making champions.”

The passage above is translated from Spanish, and it can be found in the Twitter bio for arguably the world’s best boxing trainer in Eddy Reynoso.

Canelo Alvarez’s lifelong coach and closest confidant has surrounded his San Diego gym with a stable of stars in recent years including champions like Alvarez, Oscar Valdez and Julio Cesar Martinez and rising stars like Ryan Garcia and Frank Sanchez. Reynoso also manages Japanese champion Hiroto Kyoguchi.

The 44-year-old Reynoso is a terse technician and a calculated taskmaster who operates under the “No Boxing, No Life” moniker. His no-nonsense approach has been lauded, highlighted by winning honors as the 2019 trainer of the year, as voted by the Boxing Writers Association of America. 

Reynoso seemingly has a Midas Touch for guiding fighters to the mountaintop, and his next project is making Andy Ruiz Jr. — the first Mexican heavyweight champion in boxing history — a crownholder once again. 

Last year on Cinco De Mayo, Reynoso announced that he’d commit to training Ruiz, who’d by then ballooned up to 310 pounds and had already lost his titles in a rematch to Anthony Joshua after pulling off the massive upset months earlier in 2019. 

Almost one year after forming their union, the determined duo will make their debut and look show to the world an improved and rededicated Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) when the former WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO champion takes on three-time world title challenger Chris Arreola (38-6-1, 33 KOs) Saturday, May 1, at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. 

The battle between two of Southern California’s favorite Mexican boxing sons headlines a PBC on FOX Sports PPV, beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT ($49.99). The night of action will begin with a FOX PBC Fight Night card at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, headlined by a bout between Erislandy Lara and Thomas Lamanna for the vacant WBA middleweight title.

Ruiz has shared several stages of his physical transformation in recent months, and by fight night, he aims to weigh near 255 pounds.

Ruiz has never been a body beautiful throughout his career, but the 255-pound figure is a sizable difference for the portly pugilist who weighed 268 pounds when he first knocked out Joshua in June 2019, and an even heftier 283 when he fought six months later in a rematch and lost in a landslide decision. 

“Eddy sees the potential that I have and he told me that I needed to be disciplined if I was going to work with him,” said Ruiz, who admitted he also battled depression after the Joshua loss. “I don’t think I’ve ever been truly 100% dedicated until now. I’m surrounded by great champions who help motivate me and it’s a blessing to be learning from Eddy every single day. Eddy has helped me change my mentality.” 

The 29-year-old Ruiz has always been taught by top coaches, including Abel Sanchez and Manny Robles. But training under the watchful eye of Reynoso and alongside Canelo has added an untapped level of motivation. 

“Eddy likes to perfect every punch and every little movement. We don't just go and throw. That's something I've never had in a trainer,” said Ruiz. “We've been training super hard. I have the ability to do a lot of different things and he's bringing that out of me. I'm excited to show everyone the new Andy.” 

“ This is going to be the second beginning of Andy’s career. ” Trainer - Eddy Reynoso

Reynoso said that Ruiz has been ready and focused mentally, but more importantly, he’s been putting in the work physically with plenty of cardio and strength and conditioning along the way so that they could maximize Ruiz’s prolific hand speed and power. 

“I talked with Andy and his entire team and they gave us the confidence that Andy would work hard. He’s done exactly that,” said Reynoso. “The focus is for him to once again become world champion. There are a lot of great fighters at heavyweight, but we all believe that with this hard work, Andy is going to show who he really is.”

Ruiz is playing a different tune this time around than when he was last under the public eye. Instead of documenting himself destroying pasta, chicken wings and pastrami pizza days before the Joshua rematch, the more svelte-looking Ruiz is showing off his toned-down body in a series of workout videos on his YouTube channel.

“Losing my last fight was devastating. I didn’t do the things that I was supposed to do,” said Ruiz. “That was the most important fight of my career. I had been waiting to become champion my whole life and I started doing things I never thought I would be able to do. I don’t want to make those same mistakes again, and that’s a big part of what’s motivating me. Now that I’ve been dropping weight the right way, I feel amazing. I feel like I can do a lot more things that I couldn’t do before because of my body. The sky's the limit for me.”

Looking to halt Ruiz’s revival plan is the 40-year-old Arreola, who looked admirable even in defeat during his last fight against Adam Kownacki in August 2019 when he broke CompuBox’s heavyweight record for most punches thrown in a fight. 

“This is going to be an all-action fight,” said Ruiz. “I know Arreola is training really hard and I’m excited for whatever he’s going to bring. I can’t wait to show the people out there all of my improvements.”

Reynoso is ready to guide yet another fighter on his roster back to the top.

“This is going to be the second beginning of Andy’s career. This is the start of his pursuit to become champion again. We respect Arreola, but we’re going to go in there to get the job done,” said Reynoso.

“Andy is strong and he has tremendous focus. I have to congratulate Andy on his effort and dedication so far. I do believe that on May 1, everyone is going to see a much different and improved Andy Ruiz Jr.” 

For a closer look at Ruiz vs Arreola, check out our fight night page.