“I think it was just him holding. Every time I tried to come in, he held me really tight, and I couldn’t let my combinations go. But he played a good game plan. I’d love to run it back and do things a lot different,” Ruiz Jr. told DAZN.

“It was just a long layoff and a great opponent. I didn’t want to take an easy fight, so that’s why I took Damian. He’s a big guy, but we’ve got to take risks. Just because of this loss, I still got it in me. I just need to stay active, and I want to fight again.”

One Win Was Supposed to Be Enough

Hearn signed Ruiz Jr. to a multi-fight promotional agreement, hoping one credible win would restore enough value to line up something lucrative.

Knyba was chosen because beating him would carry more weight than knocking over a harmless journeyman. He was tall, had a long reach, and presented obvious difficulties, but he was not regarded as one of the leading heavyweights.

The assignment was to solve that puzzle and move directly toward a larger opportunity. A third fight with Anthony Joshua offered the biggest payday, while Moses Itauma, Filip Hrgovic, Daniel Dubois, or Fabio Wardley provided other possibilities.

Instead, Knyba controlled the action with his jab, movement, and clinching before dropping Ruiz Jr. heavily in the seventh round. The judges scored the fight 117-110, 114-113, and 114-113.

Complaining about the holding afterward does not remove Ruiz Jr.’s responsibility for getting inside. Everyone knew his opponent would use his height, reach, and weight to smother attacks at close range. Ruiz Jr. lacked the foot speed to cut off the ring and rarely reached punching distance in position to release his combinations.

Those tie-ups worked because they eliminated the narrow pocket where Ruiz Jr. produces his fastest attacks. He needed enough separation to plant his feet and fire three punches in succession. Each time he crossed the distance, Knyba leaned down, wrapped him up, and forced the referee to restart them at long range.

A similar limitation hurt Ruiz Jr. in his second fight with Joshua. He followed rather than cutting off the ring, allowing Joshua to change direction and reset behind his jab. Knyba lacked Joshua’s speed and polish, yet the basic solution remained the same: stay outside combination range and smother Ruiz Jr. whenever he gets close.

Years of inactivity have steadily eroded the timing behind his hand speed. As Friday’s fight continued, Ruiz Jr. began reaching and leaning forward while trying to cross the distance. That left him exposed during the seventh-round attack that produced the knockdown.

Wanting a second chance does not explain how he would solve the same physical problem next time.

Winning Only Returns Ruiz Jr. to the Starting Line

Funding the fight again would require Hearn to stage another event simply to get Ruiz Jr. back to where Matchroom expected him to be after the first meeting.

A Ruiz Jr. win would avenge a loss that was never supposed to happen. Matchroom would then have to convince viewers that a 36-year-old who needed two attempts to beat Knyba belongs in a major heavyweight contest.

Losing again would be worse. Nearly all of Ruiz Jr.’s remaining value as a serious opponent would disappear, leaving Matchroom with fewer ways to use the rest of its promotional agreement.

The price of hiring Knyba would probably increase after his first victory. Hearn would assume the same danger that ruined the original plan while paying more for the opponent who caused it.

DAZN received a clinch-heavy main event in which Ruiz Jr. struggled to create sustained action. Two close scorecards may give supporters something to discuss, but the 117-110 card better represented the fight. There is no public demand for a repeat.

Knyba Can Take His Win Elsewhere

Friday’s winner now possesses more bargaining power than he had before the fight. He arrived as an opponent selected to help revive Ruiz Jr. and left with a victory over a former unified champion.

That result gives his team reason to seek a new opponent and a larger purse. A fight with Agit Kabayel, Efe Ajagba, or another ranked heavyweight would test how much Knyba gained from the upset.

Accepting an immediate return bout would mean risking his best professional win so Ruiz Jr. can repair his comeback. A second victory may add little because Knyba has shown that he can control Ruiz Jr. from the outside and hurt him when he gets reckless.

Matchroom cannot expect him to assume that danger cheaply, and pay a premium for an unwanted rematch that has no business value. Knyba was supposed to revive Ruiz Jr.’s name, not become the center of a two-fight series.

Ruiz Jr.’s remaining ambitions depend on changing the result. Everyone else must ask what staging the fight again gives them.

The answer is not much.