Mairis Briedis has strongly criticized Andy Ruiz Jr. following his unanimous-decision defeat to Damian Knyba.
“When you haven’t boxed for two years, you have to put all your previous achievements aside,” Briedis said. “You start again and have to go step by step. You can’t immediately return to championship fights.”
The former cruiserweight champion was particularly critical of Ruiz’s performance after he was dropped in the seventh round, claiming the referee prevented the former unified heavyweight champion from being knocked out.
“I think Andy went out there and embarrassed himself,” Briedis said. “You beat Joshua, you were a machine, everybody was afraid of you.”
Ruiz ultimately went the distance but lost to Knyba by unanimous decision in his first fight in two years.
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