By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Luis Ortiz hopes Anthony Joshua hasn’t allowed Andy Ruiz Jr.’s flabby body to create a false sense of security.

Ortiz is impressed with Ruiz’s boxing ability, enough to predict Ruiz will be plenty competitive Saturday night in their 12-round heavyweight title fight at Madison Square Garden. Ruiz, of course, became the beneficiary of Ortiz turning down promoter Eddie Hearn’s $7 million offer to replace Jarrell Miller as Joshua’s opponent once Miller failed three performance-enhancing drug tests.

Whereas Ortiz and his handlers didn’t think five full weeks was enough time to properly prepare for Joshua, Ruiz happily accepted this championship chance on short notice.

“Joshua shouldn’t take Ruiz lightly at all because besides that he’s Mexican, he knows how to box,” Ortiz told BoxingScene.com through an interpreter. “Don’t look at that body and think that he can’t box because he’s a little chubby. He can box. And anybody can get hurt. [Joshua] could hurt his hand or he can hurt his shoulder, and it’ll be an ugly day.”

Most odds-makers have installed the 6-feet-6, 245-pound Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) as at least a 25-1 favorite over the 6-feet-2, 260-pound Ruiz (32-1, 21 KOs), of Imperial, California. Ortiz doesn’t view Ruiz as that much of an underdog against the British superstar as their DAZN main event nears.

“I’ve watched him fight and I like his style,” Ortiz said. “And any heavyweight wearing two gloves, that can punch, can do some damage at any moment. I think he has a shot. I don’t think it’ll be a walkover, three rounds and that’s it, or anything like that. Not with the way Andy Ruiz knows how to box.”

The 40-year-old Ortiz (31-1, 26 KOs, 2 NC) has drawn considerable criticism for walking away from what would have been by far the biggest payday of his career to fight for Joshua’s IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO championships. 

But the decision has paid off for Ortiz, who earlier this week had finalized a rematch with WBC champ Deontay Wilder for later this year.

“I still think Wilder’s more dangerous [than Joshua],” said Ortiz, whom Wilder knocked out in the 10th round of their March 2018 bout at Barclays Center. “It’s just that I have that loss and it’s haunting me. I want to avenge that loss. I wanna show Wilder what it’s like to take an ‘L.’ ”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.