Knyba Upsets Ruiz Jr.

Damian Knyba beat Andy Ruiz Jr. by unanimous decision Friday night at Prudential Center in Newark.

Ruiz, fighting for the first time in over two years, struggled to close distance for much of the fight and was dropped hard in the seventh round after Knyba landed a right hook followed by a flurry, with the bell saving him from further damage. Ruiz found more success in the eighth and ninth working the body, but Knyba reasserted control over the final three rounds behind his jab. Scores read 117-110 and 114-113 twice, cards that undersold how one-sided the fight was given the knockdown.

Elsewhere on the card, Vito Mielnicki Jr. shut out Austin Williams 98-91 on all three cards to retain his WBO Global and WBC Continental Americas middleweight titles, dropping Williams in the first and controlling most of the exchanges despite getting bloodied by a Williams counter in the eighth.