Andy Ruiz (Destroyer) boxer

Andrés Ponce Ruiz Jr. (born September 11, 1989) is an American professional boxer. He is a former unified heavyweight champion, having defeated Anthony Joshua to win the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles in 2019 to become the first male boxer of Mexican heritage to win a world heavyweight championship.As of October 2021, he is ranked as the world's fifth-best active heavyweight by ESPN, sixth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and BoxRec, and seventh by The Ring magazine.Ruiz was born in Imperial, California; his parents had emigrated from Mexico to the U.S. His father is a former construction worker who started his own business flipping houses. Ruiz had a passion for baseball before his father got him into boxing; he has noted that his first fight was at age seven in San Diego. Ruiz later worked for his father in construction for a time before deciding to become a full-time boxer and starting his amateur career in Mexico. His grandfather owned a boxing gym in Mexicali that was used by featherweight champion Jorge Páez. Ruiz has explained that his nickname, 'Destroyer', was acquired before he started boxing, because as a child, "I was always destroying stuff."During his amateur career, Ruiz boxed to a 105–5 record under Cuban trainer Fernando Ferrer. His 105 wins include two Mexican National Junior Olympics gold medals and a title at the Ringside World Championships.citation needed Ruiz also represented Mexico in two 2008 Beijing Olympic Games qualification tournaments, losing to eventual Olympians Robert Alfonso of Cuba and Oscar Rivas of Colombia in the first and second qualifiers. Ruiz's parents were born in Mexico, making Ruiz eligible to represent Mexico.a20072007