Andy Ruiz Jr. looks to get on track against Chris Arreola this Saturday (May 1). The heavyweight clash is scheduled for 12 rounds at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

This will be Ruiz’s first time in the ring since losing his heavyweight title, back to the man he took it from, Anthony Joshua, in December 2019.

The first bout between Joshua and Ruiz in June 2019 ended spectacularly (and unexpectedly) via seventh-round TKO for Ruiz. Then, six months later, Joshua won via wide unanimous decision to take back his titles.

Arreola was in the ring the last time he was busy throwing 1,125 punches in a unanimous decision loss to Adam Kownacki in August 2019. Those 1,125 punches thrown were the most in a heavyweight fight in the (then) 34-year history of CompuBox.

Now, Ruiz is trying to take a step towards re-establishing himself at the top of the heavyweight division. A win against Arreola won’t do that, but a great showing against a tough but old former challenger would be a nice step forward.

Arreola, however, is 40-years-old and despite throwing an insane amount of punches his last time out, he has been in some bloody battles. In fact, this year is his 18th as a professional.

Weigh-in COMPLETE! ✅

⚖️: 256 lbs @Andy_destroyer1
⚖️: 228.5 lbs @nightmareboxing #RuizArreola | TOMORROW | Preorder PPV Now: https://t.co/yaVe8Z8598 pic.twitter.com/ATmTvohrFn

— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) April 30, 2021

How Arreola Can Win

If you have ever watched Chris Arreola fight, you know he isn’t fleet of foot. He plods ahead, but he does it all while winging away.

His best chance for a win, or to at least be competitive, is to be himself. He’s been in the fight game too long to change. He needs to do what he does best, and that’s to let his hands go. Maybe try and beat his CompuBox record for punches thrown in a heavyweight fight.

The wild card for Arreola is that, at 40, he weighed in at 228.5 pounds which is the lowest he has ever weighed for a professional fight.

How Ruiz Jr. can win

Ruiz, to his credit, also weighed in at a trim-looking 256 pounds. That’s the lowest he has weighed in since his win against Kevin Johnson in 2018.

It’s also 27.5 pounds slimmer than when he was getting outclassed in his rematch with Anthony Joshua.

Ruiz has some of, if not ‘the,’ fastest hands in the heavyweight division. Arreola is there to be hit. Any head movement from Arreola is short-lived, and Ruiz can and will tag him at will.

As long as Ruiz can utilize some cursory defense and lets his hands go there isn’t much Arreola can do.

Prediction

Arreola will start strong. He knows that this is his very last chance to be anything close to relevant in the heavyweight division. He knows this is it. A win against Ruiz gives him a chip to use in an effort to get a title fight.

A loss? That’s all she wrote.

Look for Ruiz to come out just as aggressive. The difference being Arreola won’t be able to compete with Ruiz’s hand speed.

Despite the mismatch in talent and the fact that I don’t believe Arreola has a realistic chance of winning, this fight will be a barnburner for at least a couple of rounds.

Ultimately I see Ruiz being far too much for Arreola.

Andy Ruiz Jr. over Chris Arreola via TKO 5

The fight can be found on Fox Sports PPV presented by Premier Boxing Champions. Yes, somehow, this fight is a PPV. The event kicks off May 1 at 9 pm EST.

If you have any thoughts on Andy Ruiz Jr vs Chris Arreola (or for anything really, I’m not picky), you can share them with me on Twitter @WilliamFKing. Looking for more Will King? I’m right here!