Andy Ruiz Jr. vs Siarhei Liakhovich Preview Dec 20th
Undefeated heavyweight Andy Ruiz Jr. of Mexico is back in action again this Saturday, December 20th when he takes on veteran Siarhei Liakhovich of Belarus in a 10-round bout at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona. Ruiz is hoping to earn a title shot someday while Liakhovich’s best days are now behind him. The fight can be seen live in North America on the UniMas network.
The 38-year-old Liakovich is 6-feet-4-inches tall and has a 74.5-inch reach. He’ll be climbing up the ring steps with a record of 26-6 along with 16 Kos. Unfortunately for the former champ, he’s been stopped five times so far in his career since turning pro in 1998. These KO losses were to Maurice Harris in 2002, Shannon Briggs in 2006, Robert Helenius in 2011, Bryant Jennings in 2012 and Deontay Wilder in 2013. He’s beaten some good boxers too, such as Lamon Brewster, Dominick Guinn and Friday Ahunanya. He hit his peak in 2006 in Cleveland when he took the WBO title from Brewster by unanimous decision.
Liakhovich is actually coming off of a win though as he beat Chad Davis by an eight-round unanimous decision at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix on February 22. The victory snapped a three-fight losing string and he had lost five out of his past seven contests. As you can see, Liakhovich was a pretty good heavyweight until he seemed to rapidly lose his skills starting in 2011. He’s now fought a total of 188 rounds as a pro.
The 25-year-old Ruiz Jr. is 6-foot-2 and has a wingspan of 74 inches. He’ll be entering the fight with a perfect record of 23-0 and has 17 Kos to his name. His last outing came on October 25 when he stopped Kenny Lemos in the first round of their scheduled eight rounder in Fresno, California. Ruiz won the NABA title when he stopped Manuel Quezada in the second round in May and also added the WBO Inter Continental Heavyweight title to his collection with the win.
Ruiz has fought 73 rounds since turning pro back in 2009 and has beaten the likes of Joe Hanks, Tor Hamer and Carl Davis. He has good power, but hasn’t beaten anybody with the skills of Liakhovich up to now. Fortunately, he’s catching his opponent on the downside of his career and is definitely favoured to extend his unbeaten streak in this contest. Liakhovich has decent power and at his best he’ll throw his fair share of punches per round and isn’t afraid to climb into the trenches. However, that was when he was at the top of his game about eight years ago.
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Prediction
Ruiz Jr. doesn’t always enter the ring in the greatest of shape, but has the power to stop Liakhovich and the Belarusian doesn’t really have the skills at this point in his career to keep Ruiz off of him. Liakhovich has plenty of experience, but always came out on the short end in his biggest fights other than the win over Brewster. Look for him to fall short again here as Ruiz will likely stop him well before the 10 rounds are over.
Odds
Sportsbook 5dimes.eu has the latest odds on all of the big fights. The odds of a Ruiz Jr. victory are listed at -3000 while a Liakhovich win is listed at +1300. Visit 5Dimes.eu to see up to date odds and to bet on this fight. You should also check out our recent boxing betting predictions to see how we’ve done.
Andy Ruiz betting • Sergei Liakhovich betting