{"id":784250,"date":"2026-07-07T06:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T06:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784250\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T06:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T06:46:12","slug":"andy-ruiz-jr-nears-damian-knyba-fight-for-september-4-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784250\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Ruiz Jr. Nears Damian Knyba Fight For September 4 Return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxingnews24.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add EBoxing News 24as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqLAgKIiZDQklTRmdnTWFoSUtFR0p2ZUdsdVoyNWxkM015TkM1amIyMG9BQVAB?ceid=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow Boxing News 24 on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The fight would be Ruiz\u2019s first since his majority draw with Jarrell Miller in August 2024. The former unified champion has fought just three times since regaining activity following his 2021 loss to Joseph Parker, with injuries and long layoffs continuing to stall his career.<\/p>\n<p>Knyba (17-1, 11 KOs) suffered the first defeat of his professional career in January when he was stopped in three rounds by Agit Kabayel in a bout for the interim WBC heavyweight title. Before that setback, the 6-foot-7 Polish contender had built an unbeaten record while developing under Top Rank.<\/p>\n<p>The matchup offers both men an opportunity to rebound. Ruiz, 36, is looking to prove he can still compete with ranked heavyweights after years of inactivity, while Knyba will attempt to bounce back immediately from the first loss of his career.<\/p>\n<p>If the deal is finalized, the September 4 contest could help determine which heavyweight remains a factor in a division that continues to evolve following Oleksandr Usyk\u2019s decision to vacate three of his world titles.<\/p>\n<p>Ruiz\u2019s career has never regained the momentum created by his upset of Anthony Joshua in June 2019. Despite earning life-changing purses from their two-fight series, he has boxed only sporadically, with inactivity and unsuccessful negotiations for other marquee bouts preventing him from re-establishing himself as a leading heavyweight contender.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Andy Ruiz Jr and Damian Knyba are in advanced talks for a fight on September 4th in Newark, New Jersey sources told The Ring\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MikeCoppinger?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">@MikeCoppinger<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/agBE1OB5c3\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/agBE1OB5c3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 InsideRingShow (@InsideRingShow) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/InsideRingShow\/status\/2074220795060953518?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"182\" data-end=\"497\">Dan Ambrose is a boxing journalist at Boxing News 24, recognized for his direct analysis and extensive coverage of the global fight landscape. His reporting focuses on major bouts, divisional developments, and the sport\u2019s most discussed storylines.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fight would be Ruiz\u2019s first since his majority draw with Jarrell Miller in August 2024. The former&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":784251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-784250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}