By Sean Jones: Former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz could be working with trainer Eddy Reynoso soon and working alongside Ryan Garcia, Canelo Alvarez, and Oscar Valdez. If Ruiz trains with Reynoso, he’ll have plenty of motivation to get ready for his fights.
Reynoso will need to keep Ruiz Jr. on a short leash to make sure that he addresses his lack of effort and his behavior once he starts with his old ways of slacking off during training camp. Reynoso should warn Ruiz from the very start of the training camp what his expectations are for him.
If Reynoso doesn’t tell Ruiz straightaway, his old behaviors could quickly surface and spin things out of control for the trainer. Reynoso needs to be aware of what he’s willing to put up with in dealing with Ruiz.
If Ruiz Jr. still can’t get motivated enough to train daily, then he’s going to look out of place in the Reynoso gym among the top fighters.
For Reynoso, this may end up as a big headache for him. The last trainer that worked with Ruiz, Manny Robles, he dumped after his loss to Anthony Joshua last December.
Although Ruiz didn’t blame Robles for the defeat, his decision to part ways with him gives the impression that he’s accusing him instead of himself for the loss. As long as Reynoso is aware of the possibility that he could get dumped after Ruiz loses his next fight, then he won’t be surprised when it happens.
It’s unclear who in this world that can get Ruiz to work hard and be motivated. If he’s going to abandon his trainers every time things don’t go his way in his fights, then he won’t get anywhere.
Can Reynoso improve Ruiz’s career?
“Former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz is still without a trainer after talks stalled with Teddy Atlas, but Ruiz seems to have someone in mind,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN.
“Ruiz says he’s interested in working with Eddy Reynoso, the reigning Sports Illustrated trainer of the year. Reynoso says he’s very interested in working with Ruiz. What do you make of a Ruiz-Reynoso pairing?”
“You know how much I hate when fighters change trainers,” said Sergio Mora. “They got you to the top, so you stay there with the same team. But in this case, I think it’s going to be an excellent idea because the thing about Andy Ruiz, he never really suffered from lack of ability,” said Mora.
“The fact is he lacks discipline and direction and being in the camp with Canelo, the number one pound-for-pound best, a young stud like Ryan Garcia, and the influence of the Reynoso. I think mentally, that’s what he needs because he already knows how to fight.
“Andy Ruiz has already been the unified heavyweight champion. Now it’s time for him to train around other fighters of his ability and more. That way, he can learn how to stay on top.”
Reynoso can’t force Ruiz to work hard
“Eddy Reynoso and Team are excellent strategy coaches and excellent tacticians, and very good all around,” said Mannix. “But for Andy Ruiz, it’s about finding the motivation. I don’t know if any trainer is going to be able to help him with that. Ruiz has been a professional for ten years now, and at no point during that time has he found consistent motivation.
“I’m not sure that the Reynoso’s, and Eddy Reynoso specifically are going to be the ones that help him do that. I think Ruiz has to decide that he wants to take his career seriously independently.
“That he’s going to be down around 250 pounds for his next fight, and every fight moving forward. If he makes that decision independently, yes, I think Eddy Reynoso is going to have a major impact on him.
“But the guys that Eddy Reynoso has impacted, Canelo Alvarez and Ryan Garcia, these are guys that already had strong work ethics. They were enhanced and bettered by Eddy Reynoso. But they came into that camp with strong work ethics. Andy Ruiz right now does not have a strong work ethic, and he has to figure that out before he takes the next step.”
Ruiz made a lot of money from his two fights with Joshua, and he no longer needs to fight. At this point in Ruiz’s career, he needs to fight for the love of the sport because he’s already financially set. The motivation to make money for Ruiz to survive is no longer a necessity.
Ruiz with an opportunity to improve
“That’s the beauty of boxing. You can’t teach hard work; you can’t teach hunger,” said Mora. “These are all qualities that a fighter has to have at the beginning. Andy Ruiz has fast hands, and he has a fighter’s mentality, but he’s lazy. You can’t teach a fighter not to be lazy.
“But when you do something really big like a world title, and I’ve been there before, like a world title and the opportunity to make millions of dollars because of a lack of focus and lack of discipline. The second time around, you learn from that. You learn the hard way.
“For some reason, fighters love learning the hard way. Whether it’s getting beaten up in the ring or beaten up financially, but when they do learn, they do have a second act. I love seeing if it happens, but most of the time, it doesn’t happen, and they just disappear into oblivion.”
“We have seen what Eddy Reynoso can do for Canelo, and we’ve seen what he can do for Ryan Garcia. If Andy Ruiz can get his act together, there’s plenty of time still left in his career for him to be successful. He’s the same age as Canelo right now. So it’s an opportunity for Andy Ruiz if he takes his career more seriously.”
Training alongside Canelo and Ryan Garcia could help Ruiz if he’s motivated by seeing them work hard.
If nothing else, Reynoso will do his best to make sure that Ruiz Jr. is in the best shape possible when he fights next. That’s about the only thing that you can know for sure.