A lot was made about Andy Ruiz Jr’s weight when he fought Anthony Joshua in their first fight back in June.
But the Mexican-American shocked the world when he took AJ’s heavyweight titles and will defend them in their highly-anticipated rematch in Saudi Arabia tonight.
Ruiz had suggested he would slim down for part 2, but on Friday he surprisingly weighed in 15lbs heavier than he did in the summer.
He tipped the scales at 20 stone 3lbs – more than three stone heavier than his opponent Joshua, who weighed in at 16 stone 13lbs
But where does Ruiz rank among the heaviest heavyweights?
Ahead of the fight tonight, talkSPORT.com looks at the big hitters who tipped the scales (quite literally) when they struck gold in the ring
7. George Foreman – 250lbs on November 5, 1994
Foreman reportedly made more outside of the ring with his his ‘lean, mean, fat reducing grilling machine’, which is said to have secured him a very tidy sum in excess of £150million from endorsements.
He was a dead handy boxer, though, and one of the best heavyweight boxers of his time, winning two world heavyweight titles during his career.
In November 1994, the 45-year-old weighed in at 250lbs for his fight against Michael Moorer – 19 years his junior.
Despite his age, it was the veteran who came out on top, knocking Moorer out in the 10th round and subsequently capturing the WBA and IBF heavyweight belts, while also becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
6. Samuel Peter – 250 ¾lbs on March 8, 2008
Peter had built up a decent professional boxing career, which saw him win 35 of his 40 fights and achieve 27 knockouts, before getting his big title shot against Oleg Maskaev in March 2008.
The ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ scored a sixth round knockout to secure the WBC title, although he didn’t hold on to the belt for long, losing it in his first defence against Vitali Klitschko.
5. Lennox Lewis – 251lbs on February 7, 1997
Lennox ‘the Lion’ Lewis was a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and remains the last heavyweight to hold the undisputed title.
There’s therefore no surprise he’s commonly regarded as the the greatest British boxer of all time.
His impressive career record of 41-2-1 from 44 career fights underlined his dominance in that heavyweight boxing era.
Lewis tended to hover around the 240lbs mark during his peak years, however, when he faced Oliver McCall for the vacant WBA title in February 1997, the West Ham-born boxer tipped the scales at 251lbs. Lewis stopped McCall in the fifth round to clinch the title with an impressive display, which he held on to for just shy of four years until he surprisingly lost to Hasim Rahman in April 2001.
4. Anthony Joshua – 254lbs on October, 29 2017
Despite claims form Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, that he would weigh around 235–240ibs for the fight, Joshua officially weighed in a career-heavy 254lbs, while his opponent Carlos Takam was 235lbs.
Joshua came into the fight off the back of edging a thrilling win against legendary heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko in April – where he was four pounds lighter.
Interestingly, AJ was 19lbs heavier than Takam, who gave a good account of himself in Cardiff on fight night.
In front of nearly 80,000 fans at a raucous Principality Stadium, Joshua retained his world titles with what many believed was a premature stoppage in round 10. He went on to defeat Joseph Parker and Alexander Povetkin, before suffering a shock defeat to Ruiz Jr.
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3. Primo Carnera – 260lbs on June, 29 1933
A legendary boxer from a bygone era, Italian heavyweight Primo Carnera had quite the career.
He incredibly racked up a total of 103 fights during an action-packed career, winning 89 of those bouts.
It was on June 29 1933 when Carnera weighed in at the heaviest he had ever done in his career, at 260lbs, before going to win his one and only world title with a sixth round knockout of former champion, Jack Sharkey.
Carnera, otherwise known as the ‘The Ambling Alp’, produced two successful title defences before losing his belts a year later.
2. Andy Ruiz Jr – 283lbs on December 7, 2019
Ruiz was ridiculed for his perceived bloated image heading into the first fight with Joshua, for which he weighed 268lbs.
Little did Ruiz’s critics know he would produce a masterful display against the former Olympic gold medallist, displaying a series of devastating jabs, with his quick hands causing Joshua all sorts of problems.
He suggested he would lose weight for part 2 in Saudi Arabia tonight but, at Friday’s weigh-in, he tipped the scales at 20 stone 3lbs – 15lbs heavier.
It makes Ruiz the second-heaviest defending champion in heavyweight history.
1. Nikolay Valuev – 324 lbs on December 17, 2005
The ‘Beast from the East’ took the mantle of the heaviest fighter from Carnera, who held the accolade for more than 70 years when he beat John Ruiz in 2005.
The 7ft Russian, who retired in 2009 with a 50-2 record and tipped the scales for his WBA title on December 17 at 324lbs, which Valuev former eventually won on points.
Having subsequently lost the title to Ruslan Chagaev, Valuev regained it once again at Ruiz’ expense in 2008, but weighed in seven pounds lighter for that fight.
