The time has come for to handle another big baby. He’s had enough practice over recent weeks. Leah Maya Ruiz was born on July 2. The following day, her father was in the ring, sparring ahead of Saturday night’s return against Jarrell Miller.
‘It’s funny, I picked the name literally when they were going to give us the birth certificate,’ the heavyweight explains. His girlfriend Mayeli had decided what she wanted to call their first daughter. Unfortunately, Ruiz wasn’t convinced.
‘It was going to be Landy,’ he reveals. ‘I felt like… babe, she’s going be mad at me! She’s going to think: “Dad, were you trying to name me (after) your name or what?
Thankfully they had a list of alternates and Leah Maya eventually won out. ‘I thought it was just a beautiful name,’ Ruiz says. ‘It just gives me joy again, man… she was 9lbs, 5oz. She was a big baby.’
Perfect preparation, then, for Miller who goes by ‘Big Baby’ but weighed in 296lbs more than young Leah.
For Ruiz, the last few weeks have been about juggling his duties as a father and a fighter. ‘We came back to my house, we celebrated 4th of July together.’ And then boxing took over once more.
‘I can’t lose focus just because my daughter is here,’ the heavyweight says. ‘That should make me more motivated and hungry to win this fight.’ So should the opportunities that linger around the corner. Even at 34.
Incredibly, five years have now passed since Miller failed a drugs test – not for the final time – and Ruiz was drafted in to make Anthony Joshua look good on his American debut.
Instead, over seven bonkers rounds, Ruiz bounced AJ around Madison Square Garden to secure one of boxing’s greatest ever upsets
All of a sudden, this ‘chubby boy’ with quick hands was the unified heavyweight champion. All of a sudden, the Mexican-American stood on the cusp of more huge fights and huge paydays.
Ruiz is eyeing a trilogy with Joshua, who exacted revenge six months later but has endured his own chaotic journey between darkness and light in recent years. They crossed paths in Saudi Arabia last year, when Joshua beat Otto Wallin.
‘He came over to where me and my girlfriend were sitting and told me: “Hey, I’m ready for you. I’m better. I’m back”,’ explains Ruiz. The 34-year-old was baffled at first.
‘What the heck,’ he thought. ‘He’s still thinking of me, he wants to fight again. I’m sure he found himself again. He got his motivation back. And that’s exactly what I have to do.’
It is an illustration of boxing’s warped meritocracy that such fights and such riches remain within reach. No matter that Ruiz was ridiculed after surrendering his belts almost immediately. No matter that Saturday’s fight with Miller is his first in nearly two years – and only his third outing since losing to Joshua in December 2019.
‘Everybody goes through rollercoasters in their lives,’ Ruiz says. ‘Unfortunately, I had my ups, I had to learn, and I had to go towards my downs. Ever since I started praying, I started getting closer to God. And he’s helped me so much.’
What has he found out? ‘Somebody has to go through their lows to understand everything that happened.’ And to realize their purpose.
I’m happy for all the ups and downs that I had to go through. Because without that, nobody can learn about themselves. Things had to go that way. It’s like I was born again.’ Now Ruiz feels 34 going on 31.
We have been down this road before, of course. It was back in April 2021, nearly two years on from that crowning night, that Ruiz spoke to Mail Sport with brutally honesty about his spiral – from all the parades and the parties to the emptiness, the regret and the days when he wished he could crawl under his bed and eat Cheerio’s.
‘I shut myself like a turtle’, he admitted at the time. He smoked and drank and battled depression and considered calling it quits. But then ‘everything changed’. He had a new trainer and – crucially – a different ‘mentality, spirit, everything.’
He had cut out the Snickers and the sweets and the cakes. He had shed some weight and trimmed his entourage. He beat Chris Arreola on his long-awaited return, having discovered that fulfilment arrives not through big houses or flash cars but through finding God.
This time, peace has come through loss. Surgery rid Ruiz of pain in his shoulder. A break-up freed him of mental turmoil.
I feel like all the bad vibes that I had before are all flushed down the toilet,’ Ruiz says. ‘I feel like a brand new person. Now I’m going into a fight on August 3rd without any problems, without any drama.’
Earlier this year, it was reported that Ruiz’s ex-partner was granted a restraining order against the heavyweight amid allegations of ‘sexual, physical and psychological abuse’.
Ruiz was accused of terrorizing Julia Lemus and even pointing a AK-47 at her face. He denied the allegations and paints a rather different picture of the relationship.
‘It wasn’t good for my mental health or for my career.’ Now? ‘It’s like a big mountain fell out of my back.’
The heavyweight continues: ‘We all have little mental breakdowns – especially when it’ your partner… I had to break up and find myself again. God put me here for a mission, and I’m here to continue it.’
The end goal? Reclaim those belts. ‘To prove – not just to my fans, but to me – that I’m capable of becoming a two-time heavyweight champion of the world,’ he says.
‘To show people that this chubby kid could do all these things – through God, he could beat all these giants… I’m back on the highway I was supposed to be on. He had to put me down, for me to learn and for me to get stronger.’
Ruiz is eyeing a title shot in 2025 but first he come through Miller. They are friends and he has a lot to thank Big Baby for. Those failed tests changed both fighters’ lives and altered the landscape of heavyweight boxing.
Now they meet in Los Angeles on a card topped by pound-for-pound great Terence Crawford. Ruiz and Miller were catapulted in opposite directions during those few weeks in 2019. Really, their paths should never have crossed. But this is boxing and this is where Ruiz finds himself in 2024.
‘I know I could have found somebody else – somebody easier – for my tune-up fight. But I think he is perfect,’ Ruiz says.
‘It’s like I’m starting all over again… I just have to climb up the ladder again, man. I have to stay motivated, ready and prepared.
‘If I win August 3rd, there’s no way I don’t want to fight again in two years. I don’t want to live that again. Now that I’ve taken all the negative stuff away from my life, I’m ready to hit it hard.’
