Damian Knyba was not supposed to be the main character of this evening. Andy Ruiz Jr. was the former world champion making his big return, the event was built around his name, and his comeback was meant to mark the beginning of another run towards the heavyweight titles. Twelve rounds later, the story looked completely different. The Polish heavyweight did not simply beat Ruiz. He did it far more convincingly than two of the three official scorecards would suggest.
On Friday night, September 4, at the Prudential Center in Newark, Damian Knyba recorded unquestionably the biggest victory of his professional career. After twelve rounds, he defeated Andy Ruiz Jr. by unanimous decision and improved his record to 18 wins and one defeat.
On paper, everything looks perfectly normal.
117–110.
114–113.
114–113.
All three judges had the same winner.
The problem is that if you actually watched the fight, the last two scores may be far more troubling than Knyba’s victory itself would suggest.
First, it was supposed to be Piotr Łącz
The story behind this fight is more interesting than it may initially appear.
Damian Knyba was not originally the first Polish fighter considered for Andy Ruiz.
According to reports published before the event, former world champion Ruiz was initially expected to face Piotr Łącz. However, the New Jersey State Athletic Commission did not approve the matchup, reportedly deciding that Łącz did not have sufficient experience over the ten-round distance to face a former unified heavyweight champion.
That was when the opportunity moved to his teammate and sparring partner – Damian Knyba.
Knyba was not sitting beside the phone waiting for the opportunity of a lifetime. He had been preparing for an entirely different scenario. A fight with Kacper Meyna had been planned, and when the Ruiz offer arrived, the Polish heavyweight was in Madrid, where he had been sparring, among others, with Anthony Joshua.
He accepted the fight.
And this is where one of the most interesting elements of the whole story begins.
The big comeback of a former world champion was supposed to become a springboard for Andy Ruiz.
Instead, it became a springboard for Damian Knyba.
The name standing on the other side of the ring mattered
The value of this victory should not be diminished simply because today’s Andy Ruiz is no longer the same fighter who shocked the world in 2019 by stopping Anthony Joshua.
Ruiz remains a former IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion – a man whose name is recognised well beyond the hardcore boxing audience.
At the same time, there were plenty of questions surrounding him before the fight.
Ruiz was 36 years old and returning after more than two years away from the ring. Since 2022, he had fought only once. There had also been previous health problems and surgery on his right hand.
Matchroom had signed him to a new deal, and the intention appeared clear: rebuild the former champion and move him back towards the top of the heavyweight division.
Knyba, meanwhile, entered the fight following the first professional defeat of his career.
In January, he lost to Agit Kabayel in the third round of their fight for the WBC interim heavyweight title. The stoppage itself generated plenty of discussion, with some observers believing the referee had intervened too early.
For Knyba, therefore, the fight with Ruiz was not simply another bout added to his record.
It was a test.
After suffering his first career defeat, he immediately found himself facing another enormous name.
And he passed that test.
The plan was simple. Executing it was another matter
Knyba possesses physical advantages that cannot be taught.
More than two metres tall.
Approximately 218 centimetres of reach.
Against Ruiz, he enjoyed around a twelve-inch reach advantage.
But height alone does not win fights.
A fighter still has to know how to use it.
For large parts of the contest, Knyba did exactly what should be expected from the significantly taller man. He worked behind the jab, moved, prevented Ruiz from consistently closing the distance and refused to be dragged into the kind of short-range exchanges where the Mexican’s fast combinations could have become his biggest weapon.
It was not boxing designed to please every spectator.
It was boxing designed to win.
And it worked.
The Ring later described how Knyba controlled the early rounds with his jab and movement, and whenever Ruiz attempted to get into mid-range, the Polish heavyweight repeatedly moved the fight back to the distance that suited him.
Knyba is trained by Piotr Wilczewski, the man who has worked with Damian from the beginning of his professional career.
That is an important part of this story because the victory in Newark was not simply the result of physical advantages. It was also the result of discipline and the consistent execution of a specific tactical plan.
And in the wider story, Piotr Łącz should not be forgotten either – the man originally expected to face Ruiz himself, who later remained part of Knyba’s surroundings and preparation.
Sometimes in boxing, one closed door opens another.
Here, that happened almost literally.
Round seven. The moment when this fight could have ended
And now we arrive at the part of the fight that is impossible to ignore.
Round seven.
Knyba lands a right hand on Ruiz.
The Mexican is clearly hurt.
The Polish fighter immediately goes after him and adds more punches.
Ruiz stops looking fully in control of the situation.
Knyba lands again.
Referee David Franciosi is standing very close to the fighters.
At one point, it almost looks as though he is about to step between them and stop the contest.
Moments later, Ruiz goes down.
After the count, he gets back to his feet.
And this is where the discussion begins.
Both Forbes and The Ring noted that Ruiz appeared to receive an unusually long amount of time to recover after the knockdown before the fight was restarted.
When the action finally resumed, there were fewer than ten seconds remaining in the round.
Ruiz made it to the bell.
Should the referee have stopped the fight earlier?
That cannot be presented as an unquestionable fact. The decision over whether a fighter is capable of continuing ultimately belongs to the referee.
But it is entirely legitimate to ask whether Ruiz was given more time and more opportunity to recover than he should have been.
In our view, there were very strong grounds for this fight to have ended in round seven with Damian Knyba winning inside the distance.
And there is an irony here that is difficult to overlook.
In January, against Kabayel, it was Knyba’s fight that was stopped in the third round in circumstances many observers considered premature.
Eight months later, Knyba found himself on the other side of a similar debate – this time watching a former world champion being given the opportunity to continue after a very serious crisis.
And then came the scorecards
When the final bell sounded, it was difficult to have much doubt about who had done more to win the fight.
Judge Tony Lundy scored it:
117–110 for Damian Knyba.
That is a card which can comfortably be reconciled with what happened in the ring.
Then came the other two.
Glenn Feldman – 114–113.
Kevin Morgan – 114–113.
Both for Knyba.
Formally, everything was fine.
A unanimous decision.
But the mathematics behind those cards tells us something else.
With the standard 10–9 scoring system and round seven being scored 10–8 because of the knockdown, a score of 114–113 effectively means the remaining rounds were split six rounds to six.
In other words, according to two of the judges, the knockdown was the decisive factor separating Knyba from Ruiz.
Without Ruiz touching the canvas in the seventh round, those same scorecards would have produced a draw.
And that makes one question very difficult to avoid:
Did we really watch a fight in which Andy Ruiz won six rounds?
We were not the only ones asking.
American and British boxing media almost immediately questioned the 114–113 cards.
Forbes made it clear that its writer had seen a significantly wider Knyba victory.
Bad Left Hook scored the fight unofficially 118–109.
Criticism of the two narrow scorecards also appeared among boxing journalists and commentators.
And this is exactly where some perspective is needed.
There is no need to make allegations of corruption.
There is no need for conspiracy theories.
You only need to watch the fight and then look at the numbers.
114–113 does not reflect the character of this contest.
Damian Knyba won this fight more clearly than two of the three official scorecards suggest.
This was supposed to be Andy Ruiz’s night
It is also worth remembering the wider context.
Ruiz had just signed with Matchroom Boxing.
He was the central promotional figure of the event.
There had been talk about another run towards a world championship.
Before the fight, Eddie Hearn had spoken about scenarios in which the Mexican could work his way back towards the top of the division.
Instead, the fighter who was supposed to be another step in Ruiz’s story simply changed the author.
That is what makes Knyba’s victory so valuable.
It is not simply about adding the name of a former world champion to his record.
It is about the moment.
The location.
The circumstances.
The fact that Knyba entered the ring after the first defeat of his career, faced an opponent with a vastly bigger name and refused to become part of somebody else’s comeback story.
The broadcast formed part of the TNT Sports and DAZN joint project, “The Fight”.
Ahead of the event, broadcasters reported that the first two editions of the series had reached a combined audience of 5.6 million viewers.
That is not, of course, the viewing figure for Knyba–Ruiz itself – reliable figures for the individual fight have not yet been published – but it demonstrates the scale of the platform on which the Polish heavyweight achieved his victory.
The same applies to purses and official attendance at the Prudential Center.
At the time of preparing this article, we have not found reliable, confirmed figures for either fighter’s purse or the official attendance inside the arena.
So we will not guess.
What next?
Damian Knyba is 30 years old.
His record is 18–1.
He has physical attributes that will always be a major advantage in the heavyweight division.
And from today, he also has the name Andy Ruiz Jr. on his record.
After the fight, Knyba made no secret of what he wants next.
A rematch with Agit Kabayel.
That is understandable.
The first defeat hurts every fighter, particularly when the circumstances leave unanswered questions.
But paradoxically, Knyba does not now need to chase an immediate rematch at any cost.
After beating Ruiz, his position is completely different from where it was only a few days ago.
Now other heavyweights have to take him more seriously.
Because in Newark, we did not see a fighter brought in to lose respectably to a famous name.
We did not see a man who won by accident with one lucky punch.
We saw a boxer who, over twelve rounds, knew how to use his physical advantages, followed the tactical plan, survived the moments when Ruiz attempted to force his way back into the fight, dropped a former world champion and refused to allow the victory to be taken away from him.
Fortunately.
Because when you look at those 114–113 scorecards, there is one final uncomfortable question that has to be asked:
What would have happened if Andy Ruiz had not gone down in round seven?
According to the mathematics of two judges’ cards, we would have had a draw.
According to what happened inside the ring, it is very difficult to find a sporting justification for such a result.
That is why there are two things worth remembering from Newark.
The first is the biggest victory of Damian Knyba’s career.
The second is a reminder that in boxing, sometimes simply being the better fighter may not be enough.
You have to be better by enough that there is no room left for interpretation.
Damian Knyba did exactly that.
And that is why, on this night, the right man left the ring as the winner.